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SCENES 



> INDIAN COUNTRY. 



BY THE AUTHOR OP "SCENES IN CHU8AN," "LEABN TO SAT KO," AND 
*' HOW TO DIE HAPPT." 






PHILADELPHIA : 
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 

NO. 821 CUESTNUT STREET. 



/^sy 






\ 

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by ^ 

JAMES DUNLAP, Tbeas., 
in the Clerk's Oflace of the District Court for the Eastern District 
of Pennsylyania. 



STEllEOTTPED BT 

JESPER HARDING & SON, 

INQUmER BUILDING, SOUTH THIRD STKEET, PHILADELPHIA. 



€<0)HT]lS?TSo 








PAGE 


The Creek Indians, 


. • • 


. 7 


Yan Biiren, 


• • 


13 


Forest Kangers in the Town, 


. 15 


The up river Experience, 




17 


•Near sinking, 


• . . 


. 19 


"Wooding, 




21 


Fellow Passengers, 


. • * 


. 22 


The Lieutenant, 




25 


The Surgeon, 


. 


. 26 


The White Indian, 




28 


Red men, 


, • , 


. 30 


The Piece that was lost. 




31 


What Boarding-schools have done, 


. 33 


Fort Coffee, . 


. 


34 


Fort Gibson, 


. 


. 36 


The Verdigris Landing, 


, 


37 


Tallahassa Mission, 


. 


. 39 


Kowetah Mission, 


, . 


41 



(3) 



CONTENTS. 



Origin of the Kowetah Mission 

The African Interpreter, 

Uncle Frank, 

The School, . 

The Farmer Missionary, 

Female Department, 

How they work. 

Their Kecreations, 

Scene in the Dining-room, 

Help those Women, 

The Cause which was dearest, 

Portrait of a Missionary, 

The Teacher, 

What is the Cause of this Difference, 

The Contrast, 

One that had not been a Pupil, 

Preaching, 

Evening Preaching at Cabins, 

Night Meeting among the NegroeS; 

Aunt Chloe, 

The Whiskey Village, 

The Challenge, 

Drunken Indians, 

Travellers disturbed, . 

Itinerating, 

The Vision, 

Another Vision, . 

Oddly constructed Vehicles, 



CONTENTS. 



^5 



Journal contiuued, . 

State of AVidowhood, . 

Soaking the Seed, 

Foot-prints iu the Rock, 

Another Day's Work, 

Tulsey Town, 

A Sick Woman, . 

"This be Indian's Hunting Ground 

The Commons, 

The poor lone Widow, » 

Discussion with a Mekko, 

Choosing the Broad Road, 

Returning home, , 

The Assault, . 

** Where other Indians go," 

Different Degrees of Civilization. 

The Gentleman, 

One of a Class Opposed to Civilization, 

The Blowers, .... 

Different modes of Burial, 

Diffusive Influence of Religion and Knowledge, 

Mingled Races, 

Alarm in Prospect of Death, 

Sofky, .... 

White Wife, .... 

Drunkards of Ephraim, 

Prohibitory Laws, 

Smugglers, .... 



6 CONTENTS, 






PAGE 


Morning after a Debauch, . 


. 213 


The way of Transgressors Hard, ^ 


215 


Extracts from Letters, 


. 217 


Big Meetings, 


218 


Unlettered Preachers, 


• 219 


Examination Day, . , 


223 


The Cold Plague, 


. 225 


Economical Lodgings, 


229 


Change of Weather, 


. 230 


Reckless Riding, 


232 


Indian Doctors, 


. 234 


Prophets, . , , 


238 


The Busk, .... 


. 241 


Traditions, 


248 


Marriage and Courtship, . 


. 250 


Some Incidents of a Day's Ride, 


252 


The Gleaner, 


. 257 


A Funeral, 


259 


Eloquence of Silence, 


. 262 


A Visit to the Cherokees, 


. 264 


A Cherokee Preacher, 


. 269 


Blood Revenge, 


274 


Testimony of a Drover, 


. 275 


Is it a Paying Business ? 


279 



SCENES 
IN THE INDIAN COUNTRY, 



THE CREEK INDIANS. 



We propose to give some account of the 
things seen — of the facts learned, and the 
labours engaged in — of about a year spent 
amongst the Creek Indians, who are lo- 
cated along the Arkansas river, west of the 
State of Arkansas. This tribe was removed 
to their present country, from Georgia, 
within the memory of those who are now 
not far past the meridian of life. They were 
very reluctant to remove ; sorry to leave 
their old fields and orchards, their homes 
and hunting grounds, their council houses, 

and the graves of their kinsmen and their 

(7) 



8 SCENES IN THE 

braves. To this day, they talk much of the 
happy country from which they were driven^ 
as they express it : they discourse about its 
springs, and brooks, and rivers ; its rich 
soil, and abundant timber; its hills and val- 
leys, and genial climate ; and with it they 
are wont to contrast, depreciatingly, (like 
any homesick person,) the " woodless and 
waterless " country in which they are now 
settled : nothing is equal to what they had 
in Georgia ; the summers here are hotter, 
the winters are colder, the rain is wetter, 
the crops lighter, the game scarcer, and their 
people are dying off faster than ever was 
known in the "old nation." 

But; however unfavourably it may, in 
their eyes^ compare with the country from 
which they came, they now have a goodly 
land, if they improve, and are disposed to 
enjoy it. They have prairie and woodland ; 
the " openings " with their grassy carpet 
and majestic trees to shade the grazing herds, 
and a fitting place they are, also, for the 
pensive Indian to roam in solitude and 



INDIAN COUNTRY. ft 

silence. They have the "deep tangled wild 
wood," where the earth never feels the en- 
livening influence of the sunshine, so dense 
are the tree tops with their trailing vines: 
they have upland and lowland, rivers and 
smaller streams; so many, that every family 
of the tribe might, if so disposed, fix its 
habitation on, or near a stream of living 
water. The face of the country is undulat- 
ing, with here and there a ridge thrown up, 
and occasionally an isolated hill. 

When they first came to the west, they 
settled on lands belonging to the Cherokees. 
From fear of the wild Indians of the western 
plains, of whom they had heard frightful 
tales, they kept, for a time, close to their 
Cherokee neighbours. Then they went over 
upon tlieir own lands, but still continued 
huddled together in the north eastern cor- 
ner of their own territory, and as near as 
possible to Fort Gibson, which is on the 
Neosho, not far from its confluence with the 
Arkansas and Yerdigris rivers. The land 
in that vicinity was nearly all occupied with 



10 SCENES IN THE 

their cornfields ; but now, scarce a cabin re- 
mains tbere ; young trees are covering 
the ground ; the place bears the name of 
Tallahassee, or old fields, and the tribe has 
scattered about over their wide territory : some 
north along the Yerdigris, some along the Ar- 
kansas, some south and away to the south- 
west, On the different branches of the Cana- 
dian river, and some far out on the western 
borders, where the buffaloes still range, and 
where some enterprising Creeks have estab- 
lished stores, and drive a profitable trade 
with the wild tribes. 

Such as wish to farm, make a clearing in 
the heavy timber, supposing that the best 
land is likely to be where the timber grew ; 
thus they are protected from the winter's 
winds, by that portion of the forest which 
still surrounds their field. Some erect 
their cabins on the borders of the groves, 
and make a farm partly on the prairie, and 
partly in the clearing. 

It is not an uncommon occurrence to tear 
down the cabin, and remove it and the fences 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 11 

to another place, and make new improve- 
ments ; some because their old fields have 
become worn out, or too thickly seeded with 
weeds ; others, not to secure greater agricul- 
tural advantages, but because fire wood is 
becoming scarce in their immediate vicinity ; 
for, rather than go out and cut wood and 
"haul" it to the door, they prefer to move 
the house into the midst of standing trees, 
where they can fell and burn them at their 
lazy pleasure. Some change their location 
in order to get by the side of a better spring, 
or to find a better range for their cattle. 

Many of the Creeks are tolerably good 
farmers, with well fenced and well tended 
fields, good horses, large herds of fine cattle, 
and many hogs. The hogs roam in the 
woods feeding on roots and nuts, and in the 
winter are fed sparingly on corn. The cat- 
tle fare well during the long summer, on the 
luxuriant grass of the prairies, and such as 
have provident owners, get a little hay in 
the winter ; otherwise they must shift for 
themselves, picking the sour grass of the 



12 SCENES IN THE 

lowlands, and browsing in the woods and 
cane brakes. 

Now and then we see a small flock of 
coarse-wooled sheep ; but it is difficult to 
raise them, because of the prairie wolves 
which are numerous and troublesome. 

A majority of the Indians are, as yet, but 
indifferent farmers, and a large class seem 
to be desirous merely to live, and to live 
with as little trouble as possible. You will 
perceive who these are if you travel much 
in the country ; their fields are small, and 
smaller this year than they were the year 
before ; for instead of making new rails to 
replace those that were broken or burned^ 
because there was nothing more convenient 
to boil the dinner, they diminish the size of 
the lot. The ploughing was done too late, 
and the planting was not in season; the 
scattering stalks of corn are sickly, and 
yielding the ground to weeds that thrive 
without care. Such men have but little 
stock ; but if possible, they will keep one 
pony, for there are many gatherings for 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 13 

amusement, feasts and games, at wide dis- 
tances apart over the country, which are 
most punctually attended by those who most 
dislike labour. It is not certain, however, 
that every man that rides away from home, 
will ride back again ; for the labour-hating 
are likely to be the ivhiskey -loving people, 
and the gamblers too ; and that one pony 
may be gambled away or pledged for li- 
quor. 

VAN BUREN, 

Our first introduction to the Indian Terri- 
tory, we may say, began at Van Buren, a 
town in Arkansas, on the river of the same 
name, and at the point where it enters the 
State from the west. We arrived Saturday 
evening, and found the place fall of people, 
with much noise and excitement. Here 
was the residence of the Superintendent of 
Indian affairs for all this portion of the In- 
dian Territory, and here the courts are held, 
and all difficulties which could not be set- 
tled at the agencies in the several tribes, 

2 



14 SCENES IN THE 

and crimes of a grave character, were re- 
ferred to the Superintendent ; here, too, was 
the jail, in which prisoners were lodged. It 
being the time of court, many Indians were 
lodging in the town, or encamped around 
in its vicinity ; some as principals, others as 
witnesses in the various trials. 

We noticed that some who had been fel- 
low passengers with us on the boat, and 
who were returning to their homes or places 
of trade in the Indian country, showed 
symptoms of anxiety, as they learned what 
was going on in town. 

We asked the cause of their alarm, and 
they answered, " We'll have rows here, sir; 
so many Indians together ; for if there is any 
whiskey within reach, they'll be sure to 
scent it out, and if they find it, they'll not 
be long in getting drunk, you may depend ; 
and when they're drunk, they'll fight and 
kill: that's so." But we enjoyed a quiet 
Sabbath, worshipping with God's people. 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 15 

FOREST RANGERS IN THE TOWN. 

Daring the forenoon of Monday we were 
looking about, and learning what we could 
of the Indian character and habits. Some 
were racing their ponies through the streets 
for the mere excitement of the thing. Here 
you might see half a dozen of swarthy faced 
young men, with the long black hair float- 
ing over their broad shoulders, issue from a 
grocery, unhitch their apparently sleeping 
nags^ spring upon their backs, and with a 
wild screech fly up the road whooping and 
yelling till their noise dies away in the dis- 
tance. We have forgotten them and are oc- 
cupied with other scenes, when suddenly in 
an opposite direction we hear the same 
frightful screeching and clattering of hoofs, 
then we see the foaming horses plunging 
furiously towards us, and on even to the 
hitching rail, where they halt in full career, 
and the riders slide down their sides, turn 
the bridle rein over the pony's head, hang 
it on the hitching peg, and lean themselves 



16 SCENES m THE 

against a post or the side of the house, and, 
with eyes dropped upon the ground and one 
leg twisted around the other, they at once 
appear as listless and unconcerned as if they 
were alone by their own cabin in the woods. 

We go about among the shops. Here is a 
spruce young fellow purchasing a hunting 
shirt of gay coloured calico with red or yel- 
low fringe, and a beaded sash with long tas- 
sels: there an ambitious lad getting brass 
ornaments and flaming streamers for his bri- 
dle ; others, too poor to buy, yet examining 
the gaudy horse caparisons which are hung 
about in tempting style. In another shop 
scores of men are laying in supplies of pow- 
der, and lead, and percussion caps ; others 
are examining and trying the knives, rifles, 
and revolvers. Indian women are chatter- 
ing over the shawls, and cotton handkerchiefsj 
and gaudy calicoes ; and buying wooden 
pails, tin cups, and coffee pots. 

Yonder is a gang of men and boys pitch- 
ing quoits ; and there another arranging far 
a foot race or ball play. 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 17 

THE UP RIVER EXPERIENCE. 

About noon we go aboard the very little 
steamboat that is to convey us still on up the 
Arkansaw " as far as she can go ;" which, if 
the river does not fall immediately, will be 
up to the Old Creek Agency ; and that is 
where we would like to be landed, for it 
is near the Tallahassa Mission. The officers, 
though young men, are nevertheless " old 
hands" in Western waters ; and before you 
get to your journey's end, if skilful in ques- 
tioning, you will have learned many inter- 
esting and some thrilling as well as some 
prosy facts relative to steamboating in these 
fitful rivers. They will tell you how in low 
water all hands are sometimes compelled to 
jump into the stream to work the vessel 
over a sand bar, and may be they will have 
to " tote" the lading all ashore, and after 
they have passed the shoal to " tote" it back 
again. 

When we came down the river, we had a 

little experience in low water navigation. 
2* 



18 SCENES IN THE 

la one place we saw a fine large steamboat 
away out on a sand plain, and many feet 
above the channel we were running in. She 
had, it appeared, been running in high water 
and thought to cut off a long bend by shooting 
across the bar ; but the river was falling too 
fast, and she found herself in a place where 
she neither could get back or forward ; and 
there high and dry she lay for months wait- 
ing another rise of the river. " The farthest 
way round would have been the shortest way 
home" for her that time. 

Of high water boating we had some exam- 
ples on our way up. Soon after leaving 
Napoleon we met a flood, which the officers 
declared was four feet perpendicular as we 
met it. Certain it is, that from a perfectly 
smooth surface, we passed at once into a tur- 
bulent stream, covered all over with drift 
wood, as though all the old " rack heaps" in 
the river had suddenly broken loose. Two men 
were stationed at the bow with poles and 
hooks to look out for the biggest logs, and, if 
possible, to turn them to one side. We ride 



INDIAN COUNTRY. ' 19 

over logs and trees which thump and jostle 
us about; now a small tree is caught in the 
wheel, nor does it let go without leaving its 
mark. Some of the passengers say, " Cap- 
tain, is this quite safe, do you reckon V^' 
"Oh," he answers, "this is the United 
States mail boat, don't you kaow ? She's 
bound to go through, sir." By and by the 
carpenter reports a hole in the bottom, and 
we turn in towards the shore and repair. 
In the middle of the night again, while near- 
ly all the passengers are asleep in their berths, 
we hear the engine bells ringing ominously, 
and soon we are tied up to some trees on the 
bank, and the steam is let off. We go out 
to learn what's the trouble. " Oh, nothing 
special," says the mate, " only a little bit of 
a hole 'bout as big 's yer head ; 't will be 
plugged in less 'n half an hour." 

NEAR SINKING. 

In our little boat from Van Buren to Fort 
Gibson we still had high water. At Fort 
Smith, where we lay part of a day taking in 



20 SCENES IN THE 

cargo, we narrowly escaped a watery grave. 
Just at night they left the wharf to steam 
around to another landing which was at the 
mouth of a creek, and that creek too was 
high, and its waters were rushing down so 
impetuously that our craft could not make 
head against it, but the current caught and 
whirled her bow around against some sharp 
projectinjg rocks on the shore with startling 
force. The carpenter jerked off the hatch- 
way and jumped into the hold ; but he jump- 
ed out as quick as he jumped in ; and in an- 
swer to the quick inquiry from the pilot 
house, "How is it?" he shouted back in an 
agitated manner, " She's taking water as fast 
as ever she can." The youthful captain, who 
was himself at the wheel, did not lose his 
presence of mind ; but backed down a little, 
then with all the steam that could be let on, 
he rushed her hard into a cane brake ; and 
the canes bending under and at the sides 
of the boat, helped to buoy her up, and mean- 
time others were busy cramming bedding 
into the holes. We lay there nearly all the 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 21 

night till the damage was repaired, and 
" better than new," as they insisted. Had 
we gone down where we struck, there would 
nothing have been seen, even of the tops of 
our smoke pipes ; so they told us. Most of 
the passengers would have been glad to have 
been ashore. Some went out on the hurricane 
deck, and shouted long and loud to anybody 
on the land ; screeched with that Cherokee 
screech. One or two came lazily down to 
the water's edge and asked, " What's the 
matter?" and when they were told, they 
coolly replied, " Oh, is that all ?" and as laz- 
ily they walked away. 

WOODING. 

Wooding along those rivers far up the 
country is not the systematic and speedy 
business that it is where there are woodyards, 
and men who have ambition to chop and 
haul the wood to the river, and enterprise 
to be on the look out for opportunity to sell 
it. When our stock was getting low, all 
hands were put on the look out for a con- 



22 SCENES IN THE 

venient place to land, and where there was 
a prospect of gathering wood. Dry limbs 
were gathered, small trees were cut, and not 
a few rails from the fences near the river 
would be tossed aboard — "Pitch them in," 
thej would say, " pitch them in ; don't you 
see the bank is caving? They '11 be gone any 
how pretty soon, and we might as well save 
them — pitch them in." 

FELLOW PASSENGERS. 

Perhaps we are taking our readers on too 
fast: you may have a curiosity to look 
around amongst our passengers and see who 
they are. When we embarked at Yan Buren 
we found quite a company on board already ; 
a few white men, but many Indians, men 
and women ; and the Indians were the lords 
and ladies. The first day, at the table, a fat 
Indian woman fixed herself in the captain's 
seat ; nor was she asked to vacate it. All 
helped themselves to what they liked. 

The women wore very small shawls, and 
gowns which were not very flowing ; with 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 23 

handkerchiefs tied about the head instead 
of bonnets. 

At Fort Smith, more people came aboard; 
of whom some were white traders, some 
were Indians, who were merchants on a 
small scale, and had come down to lay in a 
stock of goods ; also a few people belonging 
to the United States service. 

Amongst the Indians, there were a few 
petty chiefs, two of whom were very fat ; 
and one, a very tall, and very dark man, 
who bore himself rather haughtily, was 
pointed out to us as the third chief of the Creek 
Nation, and brother to the principal chief, 
and a merchant, and Baptist preacher be- 
sides. 

One morning, one of the corpulent chiefs 
caused his companions much merriment, by 
his ineffectual efforts to contrive a way to 
descend safely from the upper berth, and at 
length, whether as a last resort, or by acci- 
dent, rolling over broadside, down upon the 
deck. This called forth floods of jokes, 



24: SCENES IN THE 

which we did not understand, with peals of 
laughter long and loud. 

From Little Rock, we had as fellow pas- 
senger, a nephew of the Cherokee chief whom 
I had known once in Princeton, IST. J., where 
he was then attending school. Now he 
seemed to be quite a business man, having 
his residence at Tallequa, the capital of the 
Cherokee nation. 

He had hitherto been dressed in a genteel 
suit of broadcloth, which he was wearing 
home from Philadelphia, whither he had 
been for the purchase of goods ; and he had 
been quite social and communicative all the 
way up the river, until we met, on board this 
last steamer, amongst other Indians. He 
had stowed the broadcloth away in his 
trunk, and appeared in his hunting shirt, 
and bead sash with long tassels, no vest, gay 
slippers, straw hat with red ribbon. He 
would not enter into any protracted conver- 
sation with the white men, and seemed to be 
extremely anxious all the time, lest possibly 
he might become implicated in some of the 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 25 

Indians' little quarrels. We regretted this, 
for he was an educated and intelli2:ent man, 
and we had already drawn much valuable 
information from him. 

At Fort Smith we took on board a sur- 
geon, a lieutenant, and a sergeant. The lat- 
ter had in charge two soldiers, who had de- 
serted from Fort Gibson. During the night 
he managed to let them go again into the 
woods somewhere, when the boat landed — 
*i»he did it on purpose" — the surgeon said. 

THE LIEUTENANT. 

lie was a wild, rollicking blade; he told 
tales about the many marvellous things he 
had seen or done, during the service in 
Mexico. What was truth, and what was 
fiction, it was hard to determine, and there- 
fore the safest plan was to reject it all. From 
the companions gathered around him, and 
from the many bad words he used, it was man- 
ifest that he was not fit company for decent 
people. We observed that the surgeon had 
Dothing whatever to do with him. But he 



26 SCENES IN THE 

had a horse that might be admired; a noble, 
and well trained animal. When we were 
approaching the place where he purposed to 
take the land again, the saddle, bridle, hol- 
sters, etc., were brought out and adjusted; 
the boat ran in to the shore, and prepara- 
tions were making to launch the planks in 
order to lead the horse off; but, *'No," says 
the lieutenant, and touching his fingers to 
the bridle rein, and a toe to the stirrup, he 
vaulted into the saddle, and touching his 
heel to the flanks of his steed, off from the 
deck he leaped, clambered up the steep bank, 
then galloped away over the greensward, and 
was soon out of sight in the woods. 

THE SURGEON. 

He was a polished gentleman, and a 
Christian, we trust. His speech was pure 
and elegant, unmixed with those vulgarisms 
which are so easily acquired in the army, 
and by mingling with all kinds of people. 
He was now past the meridian of life, and 
had been in the army constantly, since he had 



INDIAN COUNTKY. 27 

left the schools, yet he retained all the polish 
of manners, and kept up his reading with as 
much zest as if he had never left his city 
home. Through Florida, Texas, Mexico, 
and the Indian country, he had accompanied 
the troops, and had experienced the vicissi- 
tudes and privations of war ; but it had not 
made him coarse or negligent. His own 
sound, religious principles, the presence of 
a wife and daughter, who were his compan- 
ions when he was not following the army 
into battle ; the presence too, of a well se- 
lected library; served to keep him up in a 
moral and social atmosphere, which was 
healthful and refining, while so many around 
him were people of different habits, and dif- 
ferent tastes. 

He loved much to talk of his Colonel, a 
pious man, who was not ashamed of his re- 
ligion, and always would have order whether 
in the cantonment or the camp ; who sup- 
pressed improper indulgences, and enforced 
a decent observance of the Sabbath. Many 
of the officers, therefore, complained of him 



23 SCENES IN THE 

as a bigoted old Puritan, that could not 

toleral 

merits. 



tolerate amongst his men innocent amuse 



THE WHITE INDIAN. 

There was a young white man on the 
boat, a citizen of the Cherokee nation ; for 
any person may become a citizen of any of 
these tribes, by marrying a native woman : 
he can then take up as much land as he is 
able to cultivate, providing he does not en- 
croach upon the prior claim of any other 
man ; he may raise cattle, buy and sell, and 
enjoy all the privileges of a genuine In- 
dian ; but he is required to attend, and con- 
tribute to the support of all their national 
feasts, and the sports and games connected 
with them, however idolatrous or immoral 
they may be. If, at any time he should 
grow tired of his wife, or of the country, 
and wish to remove, he must leave behind 
all the property which, as an Indian, he 
claimed. This young man of whom we are 
speaking, had been well raised ; a tall, hand- 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 29 

somely formed person, with a sparkling eye, 
and finely wrought features. He had re- 
ceived some education, and had travelled 
some. When not too drunk he could con- 
verse pleasantly ; but, poor fellow I he had 
abandoned himself to every degrading vice, 
and had lent himself, with his education 
and fine talents, to the service of the devil, 
in leading the poor Indian into sin, and 
teaching him forms of wickedness he had 
not known before. In gambling and drink- 
ing, he spent whatever money came into 
his hands ; selling off, one after another, the 
cattle and horses which were the inheritance 
of his wife, and staking at the gambling 
table, the annuities which were to come to 
her from the United States government. 

He was considerably intoxicated when he 
came aboard, though not noisy ; but there 
was a " Bar " kept on the boat, and be- 
fore long he became more drunk and 
more troublesome ; ready to provoke a 
quarrel with any one ; every now and then 
drawing out a frightful looking sheath-knife, 

3* 



30 SCENES IN THE 

feeling its edge, then returning it to its 
place at his back, under the hunting shirt. 

At length we arrived at the landing where 
we hoped to get rid of him, and to land 
some stores which he had purchased down 
the river ; but the captain refused to put 
them ashore, till he had found security for 
damage done to a box of dry goods, which 
he had wantonly tossed into the river on 
the way up, which was, however, fished up 
again, though well saturated with the red 
Arkansaw water. 

RED MEN. 

One evening, as we were nearing the 
shore to gather wood, and to put out a few 
cases of goods for a small store back from the 
river, we had a view of a company of Chero- 
kees, with painted faces, feathers in their 
hair, bare legs, moccasined feet, and armed 
with guns and knives. We were not ex- 
pecting to find any of this tribe still appear- 
ing so wild and savage ; but we subsequently 
learned that a portion of the nation have 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 31 

always been desperately opposed to schools, 
and to the improvements urged by our 
government, and by the missionaries ; they 
adhere to their old customs, and strive to 
train up their children in the same ; care- 
fully teaching them all their traditions, and 
charging them not to learn or adopt the re- 
ligion of the pale faces ; for it is not to the 
heaven of the pale faces, but to the happy 
hunting ground of the red men, they should 
wish to go. 

THE PIECE THAT WAS LOST. 

AVe had as passenger, a furniture dealer 
from Fort Smith. Wherever the boat made 
any long stop, he ran ashore to inform the 
people of the wares he had for sale, and em- 
ployed others to circulate the news further, 
and to give notice that the people should be 
ready when the boat might return on her 
downward trip. Just as the word had been 
given this evening to "cast off," and the 
hurried strokes of the bell were pealing 
through the woods, and the people were run- 



82 SCENES IN THE 

ning in on the narrow plank, an Indian wo- 
man came running, and calling, and throw- 
ing out her arms like one in great distress. 
We waited to hear her story. She was com- 
ing to buy a bureau, but on the way had 
dropped a ten dollar gold piece, and she 
wanted help to find it. The accommodating 
captain ordered the boat made fast again, 
and passengers and hands sallied forth with 
torches to help the poor woman find her 
piece of money, and they found it and re- 
turned it to her; whereupon she was ex- 
ceedingly rejoiced, and it seemed so much 
more valuable than it did before, that the 
furniture dealer was unable to close a bar- 
gain with her. 

Then some of us thought of the woman of 
the parable, who lighted her candle and 
swept the house, and sought diligently till 
she found the piece that was lost, and then 
called together her neighbours and friends 
to rejoice with her: we thought too of the 
joy there is in the presence of the angels 
of God over one sinner that repenteth ; and 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 33 

then we thought of this Indian woman her- 
self, and of those heathen red men, and of 
the work in which the missionaries to this 
people are engaged — work in which the an- 
gels would love to labour — not to find pieces 
of gold and silver; but to win souls, over 
whose salvation the angels may rejoice. 

WHAT BOARDING SCHOOLS HAVE DONE. 

On the Cherokee side of the river I went 
ashore one morning to procure, if possible, 
a pitcher of milk ; for that was a luxury not 
down on the boat's bill of fare. " Follow up 
that path," said a man on the shore, " and it 
will bring you to a house where they keep 
it." So I followed that winding footpath 
about a quarter of a mile till it brought me 
in front of a neat cottage of hewn logs, hav- 
ing a portico in front, vines running over 
the windows, a well cultivated flower and 
vegetable garden. Within everything wag 
clean and orderly; the lady was apparently 
a full blooded Cherokee, but genteel and easy 
ia her manners, and speaking the English 



84 SCENES IN THE 

language prettily. She was an educated 
woman, I saw at once ; and without fearing 
to be thought impertinent, I inquired where 
she had attended school. Her eye lit up 
with emotion, and a grateful, pleasurable ex- 
pression passed over her face as she quickly 
answered, "At the Old Dwight Mission, 
sir." I had not time to sit down, but yet 
had time enough to observe the appearance 
of herself, her house, and her household : 
and at my leisure I could contrast this scene 
with some others which we had witnessed, 
and could muse upon the influence of Chris- 
tian Missions, and of the Mission Boarding 
ScJiools, especially in civilizing and refining 
those who otherwise would still be ignorant, 
indolent^ and without the comforts even of 
this life. 

FOKT COFFEE. 

When we came to this place, which is on 
the Choctaw side of the river, it had begun 
to grow dark one evening. It was then oc- 
cupied as the Mission premises, and board- 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 35 

ing school under the care of the Methodist 
church. The buildings were old log houses 
on the top of a bold bluff, and the river bends 
itself around its foot. The boat was bring- 
ing stores for the Mission, and her shrill 
whistle brought out the teacher, with twenty 
or thirty Indian lads, and they came running 
down the hill. 

It was a romantic spot, and a scene which 
a painter would love to sketch. The cone 
shaped hill bearing stately trees on its sides, 
those weather beaten block houses on its 
summit, Indian boys scattered here and there, 
their dusky features revealed by the torch 
light, and the river laving its rocky founda- 
tion. That fort once grinning with cannon 
th'-ough its port holes; that hill once brist- 
ling with infantry, now serving a better pur- 
pose, and now a far better defence for the 
tribe than when armed men were quartered 
there ; for now it is fostering an army of 
teachers, and men who will be friends of 
education and religion. A military station 
transformed into a nursery, for the religious 



Sd SCENES IN THE 

training of youth rescued from heathenism, 
is indeed a pleasing sight. And may the 
time speed on when the diffusion of know- 
ledge, and the peaceful influences of the gos- 
pel of Christ, the Prince of peace, shall ren- 
der forts and standing armies unnecessary 
— that time which prophets have foretold, 
when — 

" To ploughshares men shall beat their swords, 
To pruning hooks their spears." 

FORT GIBSON. 

It was about daybreak when we drew 
near to this place, and our friend, the sur- 
geon, called us out to enjoy the sight with 
him : especially, he said, we should embrace 
the rare opportunity now afforded, of look- 
ing into the mouths of three rivers at the 
same time. Straight before us the Neosho, 
gliding smoothly down from the north ; the 
Arkansas, rolling along its turbulent red 
current, from the west, a part of which had 
come from the Rocky Mountains ; and be- 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 37 

tween the two, the melancholy Yerdigris, 
with its dark green waters. 

Our friend politely pointed out whatever 
objects of interest there were in sight, re- 
marking upon their beauties, and the charms 
of that bright morning; "but," says he, 
*'we are doing wrong in standing here in 
these river fogs, and the humid morning air; 
we are drinking in fever now at every 
breath. I do not allow myself to go out in 
the morning air, in this warm damp coun- 
try, till the stomach is fortified by refresh- 
ment, and the air becomes dryer." 

THE VERDIGRIS LANDING. 

After spending a part of the day at Fort 
Gibson, we returned to the boat, to drop 
down the stream about two miles, and turn 
up the Arkansas once more. 

We steamed up this broad, logwood co- 
loured stream, trying to make the Old Creek 
Agency. But the captain, who had been 
narrowly watching the banks, by and by 
gave the order to turn about ; he saw that 



38 SCENES IN THE 

the water was falling, and knowing that 
these streams subside as rapidly as they rise, 
he dreaded the thought of being left aground 
in these woods for months, during the 
hot summer. So back we came, and 
turned up the deep and narrow channel of 
the Yerdigris ; its high banks being covered 
with trees, which locked their great arms 
together over our heads, almost shutting 
out the daylight. 

From Fort Gibson word had been sent to 
the- Tallahassa Mission, and the Superin- 
tendent was at the landing almost as soon 
as we arrived. It was dark by the time our 
goods were landed, and the ox-wagon had 
arrived to take the baggage and the stores 
for the Mission. For us there was a little 
buggy, which had already done too much 
service in the States before finding its way 
into the Indian Territory, and before it was 
a little black pony. An Indian boy belong- 
ing to the school was on horseback, and 
ready to serve as our guide, and so we 
started ; our horse following his through the 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 39 

bushes and over the sand beds, sometimes tilt- 
ed to one side, sometimes to the other. It was 
late in the night when we arrived at the Mis- 
sion. Such a ride as that, with all its at- 
tendant circumstances, it being, moreover, 
the introduction to a new country, and 
to new scenes of labour, is amongst the 
events which are not forgotten during a life- 
time. 

TALLAHASSA MISSION. 

Here is a substantial brick building of 
three stories high, with a modest cupola, in 
which is a small bell, and which commands 
a view of the country for many miles in 
every direction. One half of the building 
is the department for the boys, the other 
for the girls; having a wide hall and stair- 
case, with airy and commodious rooms on 
either side in each department. Each de- 
partment has its distinct yards; the dining 
and recitation rooms are in common. 

The orchard, ganlen, workshop, tool-room, 
and stables, are near ; and the farm not far 



40 SCENES IN THE 

off. About a quarter of a mile distant is a 
frame building for a chapel, and a little dis- 
tance from this, the Mission burying ground, 
over which many ancient oaks wave their 
branches in solemn cadence with the moaning 
winds. Some that were pupils in the school 
lie buried there, and some who once were mis- 
sionaries in that field, but are now far away, 
often return thither in imagination, for 
there is dust in that ground that is precious 
to them. 

The school building is situated between 
the Arkansas and Verdigris rivers, about 
four or five miles from each. From eighty 
to a hundred Indian youth, of both sexes, 
are gathered here for instruction, and from 
all parts of the nation they have come, for 
it is the school for the whole nation. Think 
what an influence such an institution must 
exert ; once in every three or four years, a 
body of eighty or a hundred youth going 
out through the tribe to spread more widely 
the leaven of the gospel. Every year some 
are leaving the school, who have been from 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 41 

two to five years under the tuition and guar- 
dianship of pious men and women, to carry to 
their homes and neio^hbourhoods, somethinfy, 
at least, of what they have been learning by 
precept and example; and when they be- 
come heads of families, to bring up their 
own children, not in the way that was prac- 
tised by their forefathers, but according as 
they have seen practised in Christian fami- 
lies, and according to the rules which they 
find in that Book of books which they have 
learned to read, and which some of them 
have learned to love. 

KOWETAH MISSION. 

This is eighteen miles west of Tallahassa, 
in the skirts of the timber which lines the 
banks of the Arkansas river. The road 
running from Fort Gibson, through Talla- 
hassa, past this Mission house, and then 
stretching on towards the west, is the old 
army trail. From Tallahassa to Kowetah, 
it passes over rolling prairies, crossing two 
or thr 'C small streams, but which, powerful 

4* 



42 SCENES IN THE 

rains sometimes swell suddenly to rivers 
that cannot be forded. 

The Mission premises are not in sig^ht 
from the prairie ; for the farm was made by 
clearing away the forest, leaving a thin belt 
of timber still standing between it and the 
prairie. 

The Mission house is pleasantly situated. 
Grand old forest trees stand there, in all 
their native pride and strength. The build- 
ings are not at all imposing ; they have not 
any of that look which would lead one to won- 
der if they had been taken up out of the 
city, and set down there ; but they bear the 
marks of having been constructed of such 
materials and with such tools as were at 
hand, far out on the frontier ; they are inno- 
cent of paint, or needless ornament; but they 
look comfortable. 

Let us see if we can set them before you, 
so that you may be at home with us there, 
for a little while. 

There was first a solid one-and-a-half 
story building of hewed logs, facing the east, 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 43 

with a wide hall and two rooms on each 
side of it. Afterwards, as the school in- 
creased, a two story building was joined to 
its south end ; it was of hewed logs, and 
weather boarded with clap-boards, split out 
of oak trees, and covered with pine shingles. 
Along the front was an open shed with rude 
seats. On the west side of the old house 
another building was added. Of these 
buildings, No. 1 was tte girls' department : 
No. 2, the boys' : No. 3, the dining-room, 
store-room, kitchen, &c. You may think of 
these as in the centre of a large yard, which 
was surrounded by a high rail fence; the 
yard, however, being divided in the middle 
by a close picket fence, giving a separate 
yard to each department, and you must not 
forget about those noble trees, which were 
very much higher than the houses. And 
now we wish you to look along the west 
side of the yard, and you see a row of little 
cabins. The first was occupied by the black 
man, who was hired by the month to work 
on the farm, and who was also employed as 



44: SCENES IN THE 

interpreter. The second was the mill-room, 
where "Uncle Frank," the blind negro man, 
with an iron hand-mill, ground all the meal 
and hommony used in the establishment, to 
supply fifty mouths, and the bread used 
there was principally of corn. (Uncle Frank's 
own little cabin was still west of the mill- 
house, and on the other side of a narrow 
lane, in which lane is the "wood pile.") 
The third cabin in the row was generally 
reserved as a place for lodging strangers — 
Indian families that wanted entertainment 
for the night. For a time it was occupied 
by a young man and his wife, who wished 
to perfect himself in studies which had been 
broken off a year or two previously. Be- 
fore his marriage, he had acquired a taste 
for learning, and having begun to drink at 
this fountain, desired to drink still more. 

Beyond this cabin was the smoke-house, 
where the bacon was hung. On further, 
and down back of all were the stables, hay 
stacks, cattle pens, &c. Off at the east, and 
down a little hill was a spring, and over 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 45 

it the milk-room. At the north- east was a 
capacious garden, guarded by its picket 
fence; the orchards at the west, and the 
fieUls spread out beyond and around ; and 
there were corn cribs here and there. And 
thiswasthefarm with its appurtenances, where 
Indian boys learned how to do all manner 
o^ out- door work; and there the girls learned 
to be good help-meets for educated Indian 
men, by getting a knowledge of the method 
of performing all manner of in-door work. 

At the south, and in front of the house, 
was an open space, covered with a green- 
sward ; in the centre and most elevated point 
of the green, stood the chapel, which during 
the week days was also the school house. 
It had no steeple or bell; but a hand bell 
called the children into the school ; and to 
gather the people from the surrounding cab- 
ins for public worship, a man with strong 
lungs blew a trumpet — a trumpet of the 
most primitive kind, a long crooked horn 
of an ox. 



46 SCENES IN THE 

East of the Mission premises is a pretty 
valley ; and through that valley glides a 
stream of pure water over a rocky bed. Be- 
yond the stream is undulating ground with 
scattering timber; and one of the prettiest 
of those knobs is enclosed with a fence : it 
is the Mission burying ground ; and there 
lie the ashes of some of the saints. Some 
who lie there are the blessed dead who rest 
from their labours, their works following 
them; and by their side sleep some of 
those for whom they laboured, and who 
will rise with them in the first resur- 
rection — missionaries and those who, by 
means of their teaching, were turned to the 
Lord — teachers and pupils slumber together 
there ; and Jesus watches their dust. 

We are describing things as they were 
when we were on the ground ; there have 
been changes since — changes in the internal 
economy, not in the external arrangement. 
And even if the whole were changed, yet 
what has been is worthy of record as a matter 
of history. Those who have advanced up 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 47 

into the comfortable ceiled house, love to 
talk about the first log cabin in the woods ; 

so let me go on to tell you about the 

ORIGIN OF THE KOWETAH MISSION 

That little cabin No. 2, now the mill-house, 
was first erected by the pioneer missionary, 
who is the present Superintendent of the 
Tallahassa Mission. Afterwards he brought 
a wife to it, to share his labours. In that 
one little cabin they taught a little day-school. 
There they had experience of many priva- 
tions, of some sorrows ; but yet of much en- 
joyment through it all. 

There, in that little log cabin, some who 
are now teachers, and interpreters, and 
church members, first began to acquire that 
education which has rendered them useful 
men and women in their nation : there they 
began to learn respecting the way of life, 
which some are now travelling, and as the 
"light of the world and salt of the earth," 
are leading others in the same narrow way. 
Among those early pupils was, I think, the 



48 SCENES IN THE 

boy, now the man and ordained minister, 
who at this present time has charge of this 
same Kowetah Mission, and the pastoral care 
of the church. 

From such records as this we learn not 
to despise the day of small things. Look 
over the Annual Eeports of the Board of 
Foreign Missions, for the last fourteen or 
fifteen years, and see to what that Mission has 
grown, which commenced with one man in 
a little lone cabin. That missionary still lives 
to see the work go on ; indeed most of the im- 
provements at the different stations have 
been made under his superintendence, and 
with much of his own manual labour. 

At first the Creeks were hostile to schools, 
and especially to Christian Missions. For- 
merly missionaries connected with other 
denominations had incurred the displeasure 
of the chiefs, and had been driven from the 
nation. Therefore, for a long time they had 
been left without schools, and without the 
preaching of the gospel ; except that there 
were a few Indians and Negroes that claimed 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 49 

to be preachers ; but from reports concern- 
ing them, it is to be feared that, however 
well meaning they may have been, they 
sometimes darkened counsel by words with- 
out knowledge. 

Our church began to be interested in this 
nation ; especially the Secretary of the Board 
of Foreign Missions, who, from his long fa- 
miliarity with public affairs, had learned 
the history and condition of the Indian 
tribes, and had become ardently enlisted in 
every feasible plan for elevating them, both 
in temporal and spiritual things. 

The chiefs of the nation were met in 
council, and permission obtained to send a 
man to them on trial. Such a man was 
found who was willing to undertake the 
mission. He travelled from his home, in 
Georgia, to the Indian Territory ; traversed 
the country on horseback, was present at a 
council, was granted liberty to construct a 
cabin ; and the ground lying between two 
streams that were specified, was designated 
as the Mission premises, so long as they saw 



50 SCENES IN" THE 

fit to tolerate the Mission at all. There he 
might have permission to teach such children 
and youth as chose to come to him ; and he 
might preach in his own house, but nowhere 
else; and these privileges he could enjoy 
only so long as, in the opinion of the chiefs, 
he behaved with propriety. If he trans- 
gressed these rules, or meddled with the 
affairs of the nation to their detriment, he 
must be summarily expelled. That was a 
license for one year only. The missionary 
accordingly laboured within the limits pre- 
scribed, and at the termination of the year 
again went up to the council, reported what 
he had been doing, and petitioned for a 
wider field in which to preach. This was 
unhesitatingly granted, for he had won the 
entire confidence of the people, and disarmed 
the fears of the chiefs ; and now, on their 
part, they requested him to send to the 
States for more men just like him^ with a 
special reference to the enlarging of the 
school, that educational advantages might 
be more extensively enjoyed. 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 51 

In a short time he was allowed to go any- 
where in the nation, preaching the gospel ; 
and at the present time, our missionaries 
and native preachers may travel, and hold 
meetings, from the eastern limits of the 
tribe, to the westward as far as the people 
have carried their settlements, and from the 
boundary which divides between them and 
the Cherokees on the north, to the country 
of the Choctaws on the south. Therefore, 
again there is occasion to remark, " Despise 
not the day of small things." This little 
scrap of history also suggests the necessity 
there is for prudence on the part of the mis- 
sionary. The want of prudence caused the 
expulsion of missionaries, who already had 
a foothold on what seemed solid ground, 
and nothing but the exercise of great pru- 
dence could gain a new standing-place on 
precarious ground. "Be ye wise as serpents, 
and harmless as doves," is a part of the 
charge which the Author of Missions gave to 
bis first missionaries, and it is needed now 
quite as much as then. 



52 SCENES IN THE 

THE AFRICAN INTERPRETER. 

As we have not undertaken to give a mi- 
nute and formal history of the Mission, we 
may be allowed to describe scenes, and relate 
events as they occur to us, and as we have 
spoken of a small cabin in the south- west 
corner of the yard, we will expend a few 
words in speaking of the person that occu- 
pied it. It seems that missionaries to the 
aboriginal tribes of this country have beea 
accustomed to preach to them through in- 
terpreters, which is not the casein other for- 
eign missions; and missionaries who learn the 
language of the people to whom they are 
sent, have greatly the advantage over those 
who do not become familiar with the lan- 
guage of the people to whom they go, as 
Christ's ambassadors. Since, however, mis- 
sionaries to the Indians make much use of 
interpreters, it may not be unacceptable to 
the reader to hear a little about them. Well, 
one of our stated interpreters at the Kowe- 
tah Mission, was Robin, a negro, and he oc- 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 58 

cupied tlie cabin in the corner. Eobin was 
also a man of all work, and very *• handy " 
at repairing tools, and preparing many little 
"make shifts," which cannot be obtained in 
that far off country, except by making. 
Within, his cabin was like a boatswain's 
locker, having a great many things, but all 
in confusion. Under the window was the 
tool chest, which served also for a seat, and 
sometimes for a table ; there was a stool, and 
one chair with a piece of green cowhide, 
with the hair still on, drawn on it for a seat. 
Hanging about, you see scraps of old har- 
ness, buckles, spurs ; and there are hatchets 
and hoes, axe-helves, broom-handles and 
brooms, and some of these in process of con- 
struction ; for this man occupies himself at 
such labour in the evening, by way of over- 
work, to earn pocket money for himself. At 
the side of the room, opposite the great fire- 
place, is the low bedstead, constructed of 
poles, the ends of which are made fast in 
the logs ; but it is not always occupied, for 
Robin often sleeps on the floor : in the sum- 



54 SCENES IN THE 

mer to escape the mosquitoes, which he 
fancies are not so numerous close to the 
floor as a little above it, and in the winter, 
because then he may roll himself in blankets, 
not excepting the head, and place his feet 
close to the fire, and thus keep warmer than 
in any other way. 

He was fond of talking, and once in a 
while we would listen to an old legend or 
tradition, as we were riding together, on 
our long missionary excursions. Some re- 
ference had been made once, to the colour of 
the people of different nations, and the ques- 
tion was started as to what may have been 
the original colour ; when he repeated the 
old Indian tradition of the three men who 
originally were all black. They came to a 
stream of water, and one of them washed in 
it, and came out entirely white, and he was 
the father of the white race. The second 
washed in the now turbid water, and came 
out only partially white, and he was the 
father of the red men. The third, seeing 
the water already too black, did not wash 



INDIAN COUNTRY. Si 

at all, except to touch the palms of his 
hands, and the soles of his feet, therefore he 
remained black, as do all the Negroes, his 
posterity, to this day. 

Then he repeated that other old story, by 
which they account for the diversity of 
tastes and employments, which tradition 
many of the Indians firmly believe, and 
many likewise believe that the habits of the 
different races, and their social position, are 
so firmly and unalterably fixed, that it is 
useless to think of changing them. 

The legend is, that those three men whose 
colour had become fixed, as above related, 
again started on their journey together, and 
travelled till they came to a place in which 
the Great Spirit had deposited a great va- 
riety of articles, arranged in three separate 
parcels. In one were books, maps, pens 
and paper, etc., and the white man chose 
these. In the second were bows and arrows, 
beads and feathers, and the like, and the red 
man caught up these ; and there was nothing 
left for the poor black man but the spades, 



66 SCENES IN THE 

and hoes, and grubbing tools. Therefore, 
in some instances, when we urge upon the 
Indians the advantages of education, and 
the importance of sending their children to 
school, they answer, " Oh, learning is for 
you white people ; the books were given to 
you ; but to us the bow and arrow ; there- 
fore the Great Spirit does not desire us to 
change our mode of living." 

Though it may be interesting to be able 
to trace here a tradition respecting Shem, 
Ham, and Japheth, and to wonder how far 
back it had its origin ; yet it is humiliating 
to reflect that there are people so near us 
who still repeat over such stories, and teach 
them to their children for solid history; and 
who by means of them encourage themselves 
to continue in ignorance, and to neglect the 
means of elevation which are offered them. 

But our interpreter was able to converse on 
other subjects; and during our long rides 
we learned many facts concerning the coun- 
try, and the habits of the people, their civil 
polity, and religious superstitions ; as well 



INDIAN- COUNTRY. 67 

as many things relating to the extent and 
influence of Christianity amongst the Indians. 

The missionary and his interpreter soon 
get to un(lerstan(] each other ; they warm 
up together, and one seems to stimulate the 
other, the interpreter becoming apparently 
as much interested in the subject as the 
preacher himself. 

After a few years of such service the inter- 
preters become well stocked with Theological 
and Biblical learning; and, if they are pious 
men they are prepared to be very useful. 

This man, of whom we have been speak- 
ing, thought he would be able to repeat, entire, 
many sermons that he had interpreted, and 
in which he had become especially interested : 
indeed this, he said, was the way in which 
lie occupied himself in his lonely hours. 
One of the ladies once asked him how he 
amused himself in his long rides over the 
prairie; for every other Saturday he rode, 
on his own pony, away several miles to 
spend the day with his wife. He an- 
swered, " Why, ma'am, some of the way I 



00 SCENES IN THE 

sings, and some of the way I prays, and some 
of the way I preaches." "Preach, Robin! 
and to whom do you preach ?" she asked. 
*' Oh, to myself, ma'am." 

UNCLE FRANK. 

This was the black man, whose quarters 
were in the rear of the mill-house, and who 
ground the meal. He was entirely blind ; 
had once been a bondman, was now free; 
and, what was better than all, he gave good 
evidence of being one of the Lord's freemen. 

He kept hissnuglittle room in good order, 
neater than some do who have both their 
eyes. He chopped his own wood ; and some- 
times we found him engaged in mending his 
clothes, which he chose to do rather than to 
be the occasion of unnecessary trouble to 
others. With his cane he felt his way 
around : scarce ever was he absent from the 
religious meetings, or from the morning and 
evening worship. He was always devout, 
and always cheerful. God's ways, he said, 
were all right and merciful too. Occasion- 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 59 

ally we went to spend a few minutes with 
him, as he stood at his work, or sat in his 
door after the day's work was done, to bear 
him tell of what the Lord had done f^r his 
soul. He was wont to say that he never 
could express all his thankfulness to God for 
ever permitting him to hear the gospel, and 
for causing him to see what a sinner he was, 
and what danger he was in ; and then to see 
Jesus and to trust in him as the Lamb of 
God that taketh away sin. " And still" — 
he would go on to say — "still the good Lord 
is taking care of me so well ; giving me so 
good a home, and causing people to be so 
kind to me, a poor old black man, and blind, 
without money, relatives, or home of my 
own." Now his wants were all supplied, 
even better than many that were not blind ; 
and for himself he was happier than he was 
years ago when he could see ; for now he 
had such charming seasons of prayer : it 
seemed to him that in prayer he was very 
near to God, and did really talk with him : 
and now, oh, how he loved to think over what 



60 SCENES IN THE 

he had heard read out of the Bible I " Oh that 
delightful book, sir !" he would say. " Strange 
it is, sir, that we seem to hear it like a new 
book every time, and to get some fresh light 
from it every time ! Does it seem so to you, 
sir, when you read it? or have you learned 
it to the bottom ?" Often he would come to 
the rooms of the missionaries, and modestly 

inquire, "Is Mr. or Mrs. or is 

Miss at leisure for a few minutes?" 

" Yes, al ways at leisure to serve Uncle Frank ; 
and what wSl you have?" would be the re- 
ply. " Well, if you please," he would say, 
" I would be so much obliged if you would 
read to me a few verses." So the Bible, or 
some good book is opened, and a few passa- 
ges read, with now and then a few comments, 
and Frank says, " Oh that is beautiful ! thank 
you. I am indeed. very much obliged." And 
he goes back to his work, or to his room 
to ruminate, and study upon what he has 
heard, and to employ himself in prayer; for 
there is evidence that he is a man of prayer, 
and that he prays for blessings on those who 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 61 

consider his infirmities, and do not despise 
his ignorance; and he prays too for bless- 
ings on those good people in the States who 
give money to support missionaries and 
schools amongst the Indians; that the mer- 
ciful may obtain mercy, that the liberal soul 
may be made fat. 

As he goes out, and gropes his way through 
the pitchy darkness — for every-where, by 
day or by night, it is dark to him — the mis- 
sionary says to himself, " Happy man ! God 
bless and comfort him ever ! May the eyes 
of his understanding be more and more en- 
lightened, though his eyes are dark ;" and im- 
mediately he turns to other duties, and perhaps 
thinks no more of what he has done; but He 
who says, " I know thy works, and thy la- 
bour, and thy patience," has seen it. Deeds 
like this done for Christ's disciples, if per- 
formed with a right spirit, shall not fail of 
their reward : and every person may find 
some such work to do — ^some opportunity 
to give a cup of cold water in the name of 
a disciple. 

6 



62 SCENES IN THE 

THE SCHOOL. 

The regular study hours are from nine to 
twelve, and from one till four; and often 
parts of the evening are employed in giving 
additional instruction to some of the advanced 
classes ; or in familiar lectures to the whole 
school, to enlighten them in general know- 
ledge. 

Before and after school hours, the pupils 
separate into different companies for work. 
Some of the boys with their axes repair to 
the wood pile, others with hoes are put to 
work in the field. Among such a number 
of boys just out of school, it would not be 
surprising if there were more inclination to 
play than labour: indeed the man who is 
with them has his patience tried no little ; 
but if he manages them skilfully he will get 
some work done ; but what is better, and 
which in fact is the chief object in putting 
the pupils to manual labour, he may teach 
them how different kinds of work should be 
done ; and by engaging with them himself 
they see that he is not above labour : also 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 63 

during the hours in which he is with them 
in the field he has opportunity for dropping 
many useful hints, and directing their minds 
to the various objects around them which 
manifest the power, wisdom, and goodness 
of the Creator and Preserver of all things. 

In the larger missions there is one who 
manages the temporal affairs of the establish- 
ment, and who takes charge of the boys 
when out of school ; laying out their work, 
and directing and encouraging them in it. 
He is sometimes denominated the Steward 
and Farmer. 

Suppose we attempt to draw a sketch of 
him and of his charge, as clearly as we can, 
and we will call him 

THE FARMER MISSIONARY. 

Missionary operations amongst the In- 
dians are conducted differently, in some 
respects, from the missions in India, China^ 
and Africa. Here the manual labour board- 
ing-schools are a very important auxiliary 
in the work; and to conduct these success- 



64: SCENES IN THE 

fully, there should be a number of mission- 
aries who oversee different departments. 

For example, at one station there is a 
superintendent, who is also the chaplain ; a 
teacher and two assistants ; a farmer, who is 
also steward; a lady, who has care of the 
domestic apartment; another who has charge 
of the girls out of school, and teaches them 
in needle-work and other branches of indus- 
try proper for their sex ; and a lady who has 
charge of the boys' clothes. 

These are all missionaries ; but just now we 
are to tell you something about the farmer. 
There are, perhaps, some that might look 
upon this as not the most honourable part of 
missionary labour; but, let us inquire what 
he does, and what his influence is likely to 
be, and what portion of the time he has the 
boys with him. We expect, of course, that 
he is a man of a good English education, of 
a strong mind, good common sense, of some 
experience, an enterprising man, and an 
active Christian. This man is with the 
hoys of the boarding-school, four or five 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 65 

hours each day, teaching them the various 
kinds of work which farmers have to do. 

The Indians, you know, have been rovers 
in former times, living by hunting, fishing, 
or begging, and sometimes by plunder, and 
on such corn and beans as their women 
could cultivate ; for the men considered it 
dishonourable to work in the fields. There 
was no hope of civilizing these tribes unless 
they could be induced to abandon their mi- 
gratory habits, and settle down as farmers 
or herdsmen ; and the most effectual means 
for bringing about such a result, has been 
found to be the Mission boarding-school ; 
and in this work, as you at once perceive, a 
practical farmer is needed. Not merely a 
man who has the theory of farming, nor one 
who is wanting in the needful muscle, or 
the disposition to labour which is found in 
a practical farmer ; but he should be a man 
that can take hold and do the work; or, in 
farmers' phrase, not one that would say, "Go, 
boys," but, " Come, boys." One to go ahead, 



66 SCENES IX THE 

both encouraging the lads, and showing 
them how the thing is to be done. 

Thus, putting his own hand to the work, 
or laying his own shoulder to the wlieel, he 
diornifies labour in the eves of the Indian 
youth ; they will not be ashamed or afraid 
to undertake anything the missionary can 
do. In the field he teaches the boys the 
practical part of ploughing, planting, and 
tending crops, with remarks as to the best 
time, and best mode of doing the same; and 
how to do this, and that, and a hundred 
other things, that we cannot now mention, 
and which are not likely to be thought of, 
only as they occur. For instance, the plough- 
handles break. What is to be done ? The 
farmer says, *' What's to be done now, boys ?" 
'' I don't know," says one. " I don't know," 
says another. "Beckon we can't plough 
any more," says a third. "Shall have to 
buy a new plough," is the verdict of the 
fourth. But the farmer says, " Come with 
me." So he gets an axe, and they go to the 
woods. " What sort of timber must we 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 67 

cut?" "I don't know," they all say. So 
he tells them what to get. Then he cuts 
and hews ; and goes to the tool-box, and 
selects the proper tools, and before long the 
handles are worked, and fitted, and the 
plough is ready to go to the field again. 
Perhaps, a great many years afterwards, 
when these boys become men, and have 
farms, they may break plough handles, or 
some other farming implements, and they 

will remember how Mr. did when 

tliey were "at the Mission," and they are 
able to go to work and mend what they 
break, or make new articles that they may 
require. 

The farmer missionary has the best of 
opportunities for dropping here a word of 
counsel, and there a word of instruction ; or 
of enforcing or illustrating what they have 
learned in school, or in the sermon of the 
previous Sabbath; and these lessons will, 
doubtless, be remembered longer, or at least, 
as long as any others they receive. 

Children that have been reared on a farm, 



68 SCENES IN THE 

and have had pious fathers, will remember 
how these fathers conversed with them in 
the field day after day, beguiling the hours, 
and rendering labour easier; and they will 
be reminded of the great amount of know- 
ledge which they acquired in those days, 
almost unconsciously. They will remember 
how they used to have illustrated to them 
the parable of the sower ; the tares and the 
wheat ; the wheat and the chaff; the barren 
tree ; and the things in the spiritual world, 
which, are represented by breaking up of fal- 
low ground, and the influences of the Spirit 
on the heart, like the sun and the rain on the 
fields. Well, now, you who remember with 
pleasure these things, and who venerate the 
memory of those godly fathers, just think 
of the farmer missionary as the father, if you 
please, of such a family of boys, embryo 
farmers — large families, it is true ; for some 
have twenty, some forty, and some even one 
hundred boys to look after. He will be re- 
membered by these boys as long as they 
live ; by many he will be loved, something, 



INDIAN- COUNTRY. 69 

perhaps, as you remember a parent, and 
some, very likely, may remember him as 
the means, more than any other person, of 
their conversion. 

FEMALE DEPARTMENT. 

The girls, when out of school, are likewise 
appointed to their several tasks, or divisions 
of labour for the week; and the week follow- 
ing a change is made, so that all in turn are 
engaged in the different branches of domestic 
economy, having the ladies of the mission to 
direct them. Those ladies have to do more 
than to oversee them ; they have to put their 
own hands to the work, in order to show 
how it is to be done. Amongst the Indian 
girls there are spirits hard to manage — diffi- 
cult to tame: not unfrequently there is a 
case of "desertion" — a pupil broke loose 
from school, and escaped to its home. Un- 
tutored Indian children are not to be recon- 
ciled at once to the dull routine of school, 
and the stately uniformity of a well ordered 
household : it is a great change from the 



70 SCENES IN THE 

free and indolent life to wliicli tliey had been 
accustomed. 

There were two little creatures — brother 
and sister. When brought to the Mission 
they were as shy as young partridges ; and 
many was the time that they ran away. 
As soon as they were missed, a messenger 
would be posted after them. Their quick 
ears, however, would hear the sound of ap- 
proaching footsteps, and they would turn aside 
and skulk in the bushes till the messenger 
had passed ; and when, not finding them at 
home, he turns back thinking that certainly 
he must meet them on his return, they, 
being quicker to hear than he to see, 
would again elude him ; and perhaps for se- 
veral days they would avoid being caught. 

One morning two little girls were missing. 
They had been at the Mission a long time, 
and seemed contented ; their homes were far 
off, and they had no relatives near at hand : 
they were not to be found anywhere in the 
neighbourhood : we only knew that they 
were gone, and had taken some of their 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 71 

clothes with them. It was afterwards learn- 
ed that those two little girls, with no other 
company, had arisen sometime in the night, 
crept softly from the house, and carrying 
their bundles, had travelled eighteen miles 
through the dark woods and over the soli- 
tary prairie. 

HOW THEY WORK. 

Yisit one of those Mission boarding- 
schools, and if it is in the morning or even- 
ing, you would think it a very busy place. 
About the kitchen and dining room you see 
some of the girls assisting in cooking, others 
in preparing the tables ; some are at the 
milk-room ; others in the clothes room, some 
making or mending clothes, others ironing 
folding and laying them away — each child's 
garments in its own particular place; some are 
pounding corn in great wooden mortars, and 
others are cleaning it with such fans as the 
ancients in eastern countries used for winnow- 
ing grain ; this corn is for sofky^ and " large 
hommony." If it is Monday forenoon, many^ 



72 SCENES IN THE 

of the girls are earnestly and cheerfully at 
work in the wash-room. 

THEIR RECREATIONS. 

It is not "all work and no play" at these 
schools. Suitable and healthful recreations 
are encouraged.. Some portion of the time 
every day is theirs to use as they please ; 
and it is pleasant and exhilarating even 
to see and hear them stretching their 
muscles and expanding their lungs in their 
sports ; some of which we see practised by 
children in the States, and some of which we 
never witnessed except amongst the Indian 
children. On the holidays, or half-holidays, 
the girls may be seen in groups gathering 
wild flowers, resorting to the river's bank, or 
making little visits to young friends that 
reside near. Some of the older girls im- 
prove the time in writing compositions, or 
in getting instruction from the ladies in 
fancy-work. 

The boys occasionally go out gathering 
berries or nuts ; or they go a hunting — not 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 73 

with fire-arms, but with sticks and dogs. 
An Indian boj would run down a rabbit 
without any trouble. Often on a moon-light 
night would be an application for permission 
to go and hunt racoons and opossums ; but 
generally they brought in more polecats 
than racoons. 

The half day of the hunt was sometimes 
followed with an eveningof feasting, in hunts- 
man's style. 

It was a picturesque scene, that frolick- 
some company of Indian boys around their 
fire, which was kindled on the ground at a 
safe distance from the house, dressing and 
barbacuing their game, and eating it, to- 
gether with potatoes roasted in the ashes. 

Singing was an exercise much practised 
by the children, and in which they took 
great delight. We always had good music 
in our public and family worship, for all the 
pupils joined in the song, making melody. 

They had also their own little concerts of 
singing. It was not uncommon of a summer 
evening for the boys to gather in their ve- 



74 SCENES IN THE 

randah, and tlie girls in their wide hall or 
under the spreading oaks, and the notes of 
sacred song with hymns of devotion, would 
rise and swell upon the evening air; and, as 
we were wont to fancy, rising through the 
tree tops, and floating upward to the skies. 
Such, we doubt not, was the case with the 
praises uttered by some of those once hea- 
then children, for there were amongst them 
those, we trust, who sung with the spirit, 
and with the understanding also. 

We will suppose that, wearied with the 
multifarious duties of the day, you have re- 
tired to your room to enjoy a quiet hour in 
reading or writing, when gently stealing on 
your ear, comes the soothing sound of sacred 
melody, and willingly you lay down that 
book or pen, and listen to the soft music of 
twenty youthful voices, and your own soul 
seems to be wafted, as it were, on the wings 
of their sono^ to that 



-happy land, 



Far, far away, 
of which they are singing. 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 75 

The hymn is ended, and the last notes 
have died away on the still evening air, 
leaving you absorbed in pleasant reveries ; 
when from under the trees, where the girls 
are congregated, there comes a responsive 
song, and it may be the same hymn, but in 
their own native Muskogee tongue, and thus 
they chant, 

" Ekvnv herata ! Hopiyetvn ! 
Em mekusapvlkeh, Apeyvtes ; 
Mvn yvhikvkepet, Pa Hesayecv Mekko : 
Akvsvmvkepet, Apokepes." 

SCENE IN THE DINING-ROOM. 

Let a stranger come in at breakfast, or 
supper time, and we think he would be in- 
terested. After the meal is ended, each, 
teacher and pupil recites a verse of Scrip- 
ture, beginning at the head of one of the 
tables and passing around through the en- 
tire company. At other times, the answers 
of the Catechism are thus recited. Then a 
chapter is read, with a few brief comments, 
explanations, and practical observations, as 



fS SCENES IN THE 

time and circumstances will allow ; then tlie 
hymn and the prayer. This is edifying 
and refreshing; for as our bodies require 
their daily bread, so do our souls need some 
spiritual aliment day by day : and the 
strangers who may be present, be they 
parents that have come on a visit to their 
children, or travellers who have turned in 
to tarry for a night, have, by this arrange- 
ment, an opportunity of learning about God, 
and the way to worship him. 

We look to those brief religious exercises, 
especially those which followed the evening 
meal, with very much pleasure. All the 
people employed about the house or farm 
were present on these occasions ; and just 
now we seem to see that devout face of 
Uncle Frank, and that large and intelligent 
eye of the interpreter, rolling quicker as some 
new idea enters his understanding, or a new 
thought springs up in his own mind. The 
children, when questioned on the chapter, 
gave evidence by their answers, that they 
had not been listless, and that they were 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 77 

daily gathering up more of that knowledge 
which is able to make men wise unto eter- 
ual life. 

HELP THOSE WOMEN. 

" Hel}^ those women luJiich laboured luith me in 
the gospeV Phil. iv. 3. 

That is a self-denying and arduous work 
in which the ladies in these Missions are en- 
gaged, and we ought to thank the Lord that 
he still disposes some to devote themselves 
to his service in these fields ; for without 
them, the whole work connected with the 
boarding-schools would have to stop. Ladies, 
to a large extent, are employed as teachers : 
and they are efficient teachers. There must, 
of course, be ladies to superintend all the 
domestic arrangements. Without ladies, 
from whence, in such an establishment, 
would come that subduing, softening, and 
refining influence which is found, or pre- 
served for any length of time, only where 



78 SCENES IN THE 

ladies dwell; and which influence is needed 
in enlightening and elevating any people ? 

The trials — those trials which are the 
hardest to bear — of the female missionaries 
in these fields are such as are not paraded 
before the public, and which, therefore, they 
have to bear alone, because few know them. 
There are trials in getting to their place of 
labour. When there, they are far away 
from home and friends ; though on their 
own continent, yet in some measure, isolated 
from the stirring, news-reading world, of 
which they before formed a part. The Mis- 
sion stations are far apart, and when there 
is a vacation, in which they might go to 
visit their fellow-labourers at other stations, 
they find their modes of travelling slow and 
uncomfortable, compared with what they 
bad been accustomed to at home. Going to 
meeting in ox-wagons, or starting on a jour- 
ney of two hundred, or four hundred miles 
out and back, with rivers to ford, or per- 
haps to swim ; with horses breaking down, 
and then two ladies ^ated on one beast to 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 79 

prosecute the journey; this is a new thing 
to most of our missionary ladies, until they 
arrive in the Indian country. The luxuries, 
and many of the conveniences of life, to 
which, perhaps, they had always been ac- 
customed, are not now within their reach ; 
and help in the kitchen sometimes cannot 
be obtained, when absolutely necessary. Be- 
fore the Indian girls can be made useful, 
they have, in most cases, to be taught, and 
some have first to be tamed and subdued 
They are tried with the unruly and perverse 
temper of children who, in some cases, seem 
to delight to tease and worry their teachers 
and matrons ; this is not mentioned in the 
papers, nor referred to in platform speeches ; 
nor is the public told how sad and discour- 
aged the lady sometimes is, when she finds 
that the task she directed to be done, is 
not done, and that the girl has run away to 
play, and she herself has to perform the 
work. Letters written for the Missionary 
journals, do not let you into the inner heart 
of that good Christian woman, who has 



80 SCENES IN THE 

been for days and weeks endeavouring to 
win the affections of certain of the children 
who are members of the circle of which she 
has charge, and still they remain intractable, 
unthankful — do not return love for love. 

The journals do not portray the state of 
that heart which, in hours of dejection, and 
discouragement, and loneliness, is thinking 
of a mother or sister far away, and that is 
pining for their society, just for the sweet 
privilege of even once unbosoming all to 
them, telling all its cares. 

There are trials which result from sick- 
ness or enfeebled health, and impaired 
strength ; while the labours remain undi- 
minished ; trials also from the loss of fel- 
low-labourerS; and a consequently increased 
burden of cares and duties ; such trials, 
sometimes, as those experience, who have 
families that need medical treatment, or 
themselves are sick, but physicians are not 
at hand ; and there are trials, such as you 
may imagine, when many of the pupils are 
prostrated with an epidemic disease, and the 



INDIAN" COUNTRY. 81 

duties of nurse, both by day and by night, 
are added to all their other duties. 

Therefore we say, " Help those women ivliich 
laboured 10 ith us in the gospel P^ Help them 
with the assurance that they have your 
sympathy: help them with your prayers: 
help them where you can, with material aid. 
This you can do : you can contribute the 
means by which they may be supplied with 
more of the thousand little conveniencies of 
life ; and, what would be more acceptable to 
them, you can send to their aid fellow-la- 
bourers, so that they need not be over- 
worked, and so that, when disabled by sick- 
ness, they may be relieved from cares, and 
thereby useful lives may be continued to the 
Mission, and to the service of Christ on 
earth. 

To the ladies themselves we would repeat 
those words of our Master, where he says to 
his servants, " I know thy works, and thy 
labour and thy patience." Let this encourage 
and comfort you. Though the world does not, 
and cannot know the hundredth part of what 



BSt SCENES IN THE 

you have to do and to endure, yet. He whom 
most it concerns, and who is able to appre- 
ciate, he knows, and he will reward it all. 
He knows all the works performed there 
in the daily routine of duty. He knows all 
the extra and exhausting labours which you 
perform, and to which love constrains you. 
He knows your assiduity in teaching from 
day to day, and on and on still for 
months and for years. He knows your pa- 
tience in this work, and the labour and pain 
it may cost you. When friends, or the com- 
forts of home invite you to retire from 
the field, and to leave the burden and heat 
of the day to other labourers, he knows how 
you overcome these temptations, and still 
have patience and faint not. He is a wit- 
ness to all that you do, because of the love 
you bear to him. He knows all your in- 
terest in the great work of Christian Mis- 
sions, and your love for the people for whose 
good you have voluntarily submitted to 
these many privations. Your works may 
never be published over the world, and when 



INDIAIT COUNTRY. 83 

you die, but a few of your fellow mortals may 
know it ; but your Saviour perfectly knows 
all. and will take care that your labours are 
not be in vain, and that you shall not lose 
your reward. 

He knows your patience too — your pa- 
tience in the midst of discouragements; your 
endurance of trials ; your patience in wait- 
ing for the precious fruit, and your patience 
in affliction. He knows how you bear with 
the dulness, or indifference, or perversity 
of the children of your charge. When sick, 
or worn down with care and constant exer- 
tion, he knows with what patient endurance 
you still work on. 

That patient woman who continues to hear 
some of her classes, though she is unable to 
leave her room, and when she cannot even 
sit up in her bed, still gives the girls instruc- 
tion in their work — let her know that He 
who loved the sisters of Bethany, who ap- 
proved what Mary had done in washing his 
feet, and what another had done in anoint- 
ing his head ; who stood over against the 



"84 SCENES IN THE 

treasury when the poor widow threw in her 
two mites — let her know that He is near her, 
and knows her work, and her labour, and her 
patience. By and by he will say, " Inas- 
much as ye have done it unto one of the 
least of these, ye have done it unto me." 

There is a time coming when some of the 
acts which now glitter before the world will 
be of no account ; and when, on the other 
hand, such as worldly men did not heed at 
all, shall command the admiration of the 
universe. Then those women, who, be- 
cause they loved much, were ready to do, 
and to suffer much, and so left the comforts 
and refinements of home for a life of labour 
and privation in a Mission field, may be 
bidden to a seat that is higher than the seats 
of many who have in this world occupied 
high places, and been caressed and ap- 
plauded. 

But their experience is not all discourag- 
ing : it is not all sowing in tears : they see 
harvest times also, when those who went 
forth weeping, bearing precious seed, come 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 85 

again with rejoicing, bringing their sheaves 
with them. 

When now and then one of those pupils 
who once caused so much anxiety, comes to 
the missionary, begging to be told what she 
shall do to be saved, the toil-worn servant 
of God forgets all her former weariness and 
heart-aches: and when she sees one and ano- 
ther at different times coming before the 
church to take upon them the vows of God, 
and when with her they sit down to the table 
of the Lord, she remembers no more her sor- 
row, for joy that they are born again. And 
in after years, when travelling or visiting in 
the nation, she stops at a comfortable farm 
house, and finds there an industrious, intel- 
ligent. Christian wife and mother, she feels 
more than paid for all the pains and patience 
expended upon her ; when she finds the com- 
mon schools of the nation taught by those 
who once gave so little promise, and were 
so troublesome, she reproaches herself for 
her little faith. Now, after many days, she 



gg SCENES IN THE 

finds the bread that was cast upon the 
waters. 

THE CAUSE WHICH WAS DEAREST. 

The Indian Missions afford many exam- 
ples of veteran soldiers of Christ who gave 
to his self-denying, toilsome, and sometimes 
perilous service the dew of their youth; and 
who, though their locks are growing white, 
and the weight of years is bowing their 
heads somewhat, yet have not asked to 
be discharged; and their faithful wives to- 
gether with them have patience, and labour, 
and faint not. 

Kecently a lady withdrew from the Mis- 
sion, simply because she fancied that on ac- 
count of her advanced age she could no 
longer be of essential service to " a cause 
which was dearer to her than any other on 
earthP 

When a young lady, she entered on her 
missionary life, the first portion of which 
was spent amongst the Cherokees. Together 
with a brother who was also a missionary. 



INDIAN COUNTKY. 87 

slie accompanied the tribe in several of their 
removals to the west of the Mississippi. 

Soon after our Mission was established 
among the Creeks, she joined it, and for more 
than thirty years has she been toiling, plan- 
ning, and praying for the interests of these 
Missions, and for the good of the poor In- 
dian, just as that person would be expected 
to do, to whose heart this cause was the most 
precious. It did indeed seem to be her de- 
light to be able to serve her Master, in doing 
good to the bodies and souls of these rem- 
nants of the nations, that once were the lords 
of the continent. 

Day after day she worked in the kitchen, 
or laundry, or school room, or in nursing 
the sick — anywhere, so that she might be 
useful. Day after day for thirty years, she 
laboured and fainted not. After thirty years' 
experience and observation, it was still the 
cause which lay nearest her heart. 

Her long familiarity with the Indian 
character, and knowledge of his habits and 
prejudices, and her great experience in Mis' 



88 SCENES IN THE 

sion schools had qualified her for eminent 
usefulness: the missionaries were constantly 
consulting her, and freely and kindly was 
advice imparted. 

As you may well imagine, she was a per- 
son of determined purpose, and being of a 
strong constitution and perfect health, hav- 
ing energy of body and an active mind, she 
always seemed to know what should be 
done, and was as prompt to do it. 

Early one morning, while living at the 
Dwight Mission, when it was announced 
that three of the larger girls did not answer 
to the usual call, and were not to be found on 
the premises, she requested that the fleetest 
horse should be saddled, and at once started, 
and after them she rode. They, doubtless, 
had many hours the start of her, but she 
suspected what course they would take, and 
onward she pursued, and at length came in 
sight of them as they were swimming a 
river, with their clothes and their bundles 
tied to the back of their heads. 

As they reached the farther bank, she 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 89 

rode up, and in the tone of one accustomed 
to command, ordered them to " stop, turn 
right around, and swim back again imme- 
diately." And they, all at once, answered, 
" Miss N , is that you ? We saw some- 
body coming, but if we had known it was 
you, we wouldn't have tried to get away." 
So they turned, and recrossed the stream, 
and accompanied her home without a sign 
of demurring, or attempt to escape. 

Though at times a little stern, yet she was 
always loved. Those very girls that she 
arrested, were very likely gathering wild 
flowers for her pretty soon, while on their 
return journey ; and she, as was her wont, 
would doubtless be engaging them in pleas- 
ant conversation; and possibly, they may 
have been amongst the number that were 
engaged in that demonstration of which we 
have heard, though I do not remember just 
the date of the occurrence, or the precise 
place. The teacher had been absent from 
the mission a short time; but to the girls, it 
seemed a very long time. When she was 

8* 



&d SCENES IN THE 

seen coming along the road, the word flew 

that " Miss N had come," and many of 

the girls met her at the stile, and took forci- 
ble possession of her ; four of the largest 
making an extemporaneous seat with their 
joined hands, and thus they bore her, with 
boisterous demonstrations of joy, around 
the yard, and then to her room. 

She could endure much. Many were the 
long rides which she took on horseback. 
We have heard her speak of being thrown 
from her horse on a dark night, and in a 
thunder storm, her horse being frightened 
by a fierce flash of lightning, close to his 
face. Where she was thrown was in the 
middle of a wide prairie, without a stone, 
stump, or a mound at hand to aid her in re- 
mounting, and with only an Indian boy for 
an escort. We have heard of her taking a 
horseback journey from the Arkansas to 
the Eed river, and back again. 

Though she has retired from service in 
that field, yet while she continues here with 
us, a companion in tribulation, and in the 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 91 

kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, 
the church, we doubt not, will have her 
prayers; and when, at last, she rests from 
all her labours, we trust that many blessed 
fruits of that thirty years of missionary la- 
bour may follow her. 

PORTRAIT OF A MISSIONARY AMONGST THE 
INDIANS. 

We do not pretend to say that they all 
look alike ; nor that the men for this field are 
selected with reference to their stature or 
girth. But for this picture, you may im- 
agine a man still on the forenoon side of the 
meridian of life, more than six feet high, 
with broad shoulders, strongly built every 
way, and active as strong. There is little 
doubt that, when a youth, he could jump as 
far, and run as fast as the best in his neigh- 
bourhood ; and (in a whisper I may say it) 
he would sometimes give the school boys, 
in play time, a small specimen as to how 
such things might be done; their best run- 
ner could hardly catch him, and their best 



V2 SCENES IN THE 

player couldn't beat him in knocking, throw- 
ing, or catching the ball : and he would try 
his hand with them in shooting with the 
blow gun, or bow and arrow. He was, you 
see, a believer in the doctrine that " All 
work (or all study) and no play, makes 
Jack a dull boy." He was an earnest 
man. As you observe hirn moving about 
through the rooms, up and down stairs, 
about the yards, to the garden, then to the 
fields, you say, Surely that is an earnest 
man in whatever he undertakes. 

He is always cheerful ; he has a smile and 
a kind word for every child in the school, 
for every fellow labourer, for every man, 
woman, or child he meets ; be it the first 
chief or the poorest of the common people ; 
or be it at morning, noon, or night ; be it in 
a fair day or a dull day. Such a man, you 
may be sure, will be popular among the In- 
dians. We never knew him to be down 
sick, and scarce ever at all unwell ; for he 
was blessed with a good constitution ; and 
abundant exercise, and plain diet, with the 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 93 

blessing of God — without which, no rules 
of health would avail — have kept him 
healthy and robust. lie loves to preach, 
and he loves to sing; nor do these labours 
and exercises tire him, and the Indians and 
Indian children never tire of singing with 
him, whether in English or Muskokee. 

Now you may see him preparing for a 
short preaching excursion. In those well 
worn saddle-bags, covered with black bear 
skin, is the Bible, an English and a Musko- 
kee hymn book, a few tracts and catechisms, 
in both languages, and a few simple medi- 
cines ; for the Indians persist in believing 
and declaring that he is a first rate doctor. 
That Mackinaw blanket strapped on the 
saddle, is to serve three purposes, viz : for a 
softer saddle seat, for a cloak when it rains, 
and for a bed at night. If it is for a long 
tour, you will see a tin cup, and coffee pot, 
and skillet, hanging from some part of the 
saddle on one side, and a small sack of pro- 
visions to balance it on the other. Willie, 
or Roan, or Wellington — whichever it is — 



94 SCENES IN THE 

seems to understand that it is for a long 
jaunt, and he moves off very moderately, in a 
swinging pace, and not in a lope as at other 
times. That noble fellow will walk his 
master safely through the shallow streams, 
and swim him over the deep rivers ; and 
should he go under now and then, because 
he can't help it, he will let him catch to his 
tail, if they are so much favoured as to rise 
to the surface at the same time, and thus he 
will tow him to the shore. If, where they 
turn in at night, there is no corn, as is not 
unlikely to be the case, he will put up with 
hay ; and if there is no hay, he will consent 
to be tethered with a long rope, and pick 
up what he can on the ground ; and if there 
is no long rope, the patient animal will 
stand all night tied to a tree, and browze 
upon the twigs, asking only the privilege 
of nibbling the grass by the way-side to- 
morrow, with a promise that he shall be 
baited at the first corn crib they come to. 

AVhen the missionary gets home again, 
he is as busy as ever, and if you have busi- 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 95 

ness with him, it may cost you a sharp look- 
out to find him ; for he may be away over- 
seeing the work on the farm, or down in 
the timber to select a tree for the men to 
cut, for some particular purpose ; or he is 
called off to shoot down that wild steer that 
has been driven up to make them a change 
of diet; or perhaps he is out grafting trees^ 
or preparing ground for a nursery, or he 
has gone to the shop to make or mend some- 
thing; or possibly, there is some little diffi- 
culty between some of the scholars^ which 
their teacher feels incompetent to decide, 
and he is called in to hear, patiently, the 
whole case from beginning to end; or he is 
entertaining some stranger Indians from a 
distant village, or conversing with the 
parents of some of the pupils, who are on a 
visit to see how their children fare ; or he 
may be weighing out medicine for the sick, 
or himself just starting to visit a sick neigh- 
bour; but, if you fail to find him engaged in 
such like labours, make your way to his 
study, and there, with his interpreter, you 



96 SCENES IN THE 

will find him hard at work over a manu- 
script, and you perceive that it is a transla- 
tion of the Scriptures on which they are em- 
ployed, or a catechism or tract. 

THE TEACHER. 

He is a graduate of an eastern college, has 
taught in academies in the States where he 
received a fine salary, and was in a way to 
advance, like other teachers, to the rank of 
professor ; but he heard a call from the 
church, or rather from the Head of the 
church, to go and teach the poor Indian ; 
and you will find him now where he has 
been for years, applying himself diligently 
day after day in the school room. He can 
teach either A, B, and C, or the mysteries of 
the natural sciences, the elegancies of the 
ancient languages, or the sublimities of 
mathematics. Steadily he returns to this 
work every morning, and on through all the 
days of the term, and all the terms of the 
year ; and not only throughout the day does 
he work, but how often at night does he 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 97 

gather the school to listen to an oral lesson, 
or a lecture, with illustrations, pictures, or 
apparatus! Sometimes it happens that there 
is no steward or farmer in the Mission, and 
he for a time attends to the duties of that 
department, in addition to his other labours. 
But he is always a busy man, whether from 
necessity or choice. Many useful articles, 
which you may see about the house, were 
made by him during the intervals of school. 

Not unfrequently he may be met roaming 
over the prairie and through the woods, 
gathering specimens in botany, mineralogy, 
or entomology, and other facts in science, to 
send to the great masters and professors at 
the east, who have requested the favour of 
such services, and who are building up a re- 
putation of their own for great research. 
diligence, &c., partly by means of such agents 
as this, who themselves are never known to 
fame. 

The labours of the day all done, and the 
children all settled in their beds, you may 
see the light still burning in his room ; and 



98 SCENES IN THE 

there he is at his books, and his wife with 
him : they are making a grammar of the 
language, or preparing a tract. 

And now, let us inquire what it is that 
can reconcile a person of education, of refine- 
ment, and accustomed to the society of 
learned and polite people — what can recon- 
cile him to a comparatively isolated situa- 
tion, and to the work and dull routine of 
such a school as this in which we find him? 
What but the consciousness that he is in his 
Master's service, and the hope that his la- 
bours shall not be in vain in the Lord — the 
hope that he is contributing the influence 
of one man, of one life-time towards elevat- 
ing the character and social position of a 
whole tribe — the hope that future genera- 
tions may witness the fruits of seed sown by 
his hand, though his own eyes may not see 
much of it while he lives ? He is stimulated 
by the evidence afforded all around him of 
the absolute necessity of schools, in order to 
the greatest success of an Indian Mission, as 
well as by the great improvement already 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 99 

effected by means of such schools ; he is 
cheered by the belief that a rich field lies 
open before every teacher of children and 
youth to sow the seeds of saving knowledge, 
and thus to be instrumental in training im- 
mortal souls for heaven. Again at times, 
he reasons like a philosopher on the subject, 
and his conclusions strengthen his deter- 
mination to hold on his way. He says, " If, 
as we have read, ' He is a benefactor of his 
race luJio causes two sinres of grass to grow 
where only one grew before ;'^ is not he who is 
an agent in starting into being many ideas 
in minds where there were but few before — ■ 
is not he who is raising up teachers, native 
teachers for a people that had them not be- 
fore — who is preparing the way to give a 
literature to a nation that had none before; 
and who is preparing the way for the erec- 
tion of schools and churches, and who is 
laying the ground work for supplying a na- 
tive ministry to a people that had none of 
these things before ? 

Other people in passing about over the 



100 SCENES IN THE 

country notice indeed a great dissimilar- 
ity in the conduct of the people, as well as 
in the appearance of their dwellings and im- 
provements, but they notice it only to icon- 
der how it happened so ; our missionary 
however has often noticed the same, and has 
found food for encouragement in it, for he 
knows 

WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF THIS DIFFERENCE? 

Let us turn our horses up this trail, and 
call at yonder cabin. We pass a small field, 
yet small as it is, more than half of it is un- 
tilled, and the corn growing in the remain- 
ing part must have been late planted, and is 
badly tended. Let us go into the cabin ; 
but you must stoop, for the door is low ; a 
dirty Indian woman sits inside with slovenly 
dress carelessly put on ; she does not rise to 
give us a seat. We say, "Good morning;" 
she answers with a grunt. We ask, "Are 
all well ?" she answers with another grunt. 
We look about. There are children with thick, 
uncombed, and untrimmed hair ; dirty, and 







^v: 



-.^ 



"Who is that girl— her hair so neatly put up- dress clean, and 
tidily put on ? "—Page 101. 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 101 

as ignorant, almost, of religious truth, as the 
half-starved and sneaking dogs that are bark- 
ing about the door. 

We will ride on. By and by we turn up 
another trail. We pass large corn fields — 
here is a small orchard — a garden — many 
cattle near — a covered two-horse wagon in 
the yard. But who is that girl — her hair 
so neatly put up — dress clean and tidily put 
on ? She is attending to the milking of the 
cows, and seems to have the care of the milk- 
house. We tie our horses and go in ; chairs 
are placed for us under the shade of a tree 
before the door. Soon that girl comes from 
the milk-house, she advances with a pleasing 
frankness to shake hands, then goes to the 
garden and brings a watermelon, and hands us 
knives, that we may eat and refresh our- 
selves with this cooling fruit. She seems to 
have the care of the family, for her mother 
is unwell. But what is the cause of the dif- 
ference between this girl and the girls in the 
cabin at which we first stopped ? 

This girl is a pupil in the Mission boarding- 
9* 



102 SCENES IN THE 

scliool. She is at home now, for it is vaca- 
tion. She is a member of the Mission church, 
and, we trust, a true disciple. 

Is there any encouragement in trying to 
elevate the Indian? Is any good accom- 
plished by Mission boarding-schools ? 

THE CONTRAST. 

You see that tall Indian standing by the 
side of the path, endeavouring to cover some 
parts of his body with the half of the hunt- 
ing shirt which still hangs on hira. He has 
little friendship towards the missionaries ; 
he dislikes the white physicians ; he believes 
in conjuration; if his neighbours are sick, 
he tries to persuade them to throw away the 
white doctor's medicine and send for a 
" blower," a medicine man ; he observes all 
the ancient Indian ceremonies at the death 
of any member of his family. He is in the 
gallof bitterness and bonds of iniquity; and 
lie desires to remain as he is. 

But go with me a short distance. You 
notice broad fields of corn on the rich bottom 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 103 

land at the right; you observe they have 
been well tended, and are well fenced. At 
the left you see the cow-pens ; here a pen 
with thirty calves ; not far off are horses, 
and sheep, and cattle; there are corn-cribs 
and out-houses. The house is small but 
neat, verandahs in front and rear, fruit and 
shade trees growing. Now go into the house; 
the wife is spinning wool, but politely hands 
you a chair. The owner of the establish- 
ment is at home, for he is not in good healthy 
and had sent for the missionary to converse 
with him about the way of salvation. He is 
neatly dressed, is polite, and speaks correct 
English. Quite a contrast, certainly, you 
say, between this and that tall Indian ; yet 
they are both Indians] why is the differ- 
ence? You ask. Where did this man get 
his habits of order, neatness, and thrift? And 
more than all. Where did he get so much 
correct religious knowledge? Let me tell 
you. In his youth he had been in a Mission 
boarding-school. 

Perhaps the missionaries who had the care 



104: SCENES IN THE 

of this man when a youth in school, were 
quite discouraged in regard to him, seeing 
no fruit of their labours ; but they cast bread 
upon the waters, and now after many days 
it appears; we see it; they, perhaps, have 
not, and never may in this world. These 
are thoughts which we will lay up; they 
may help us when we begin to feel discour- 



aged. 



ONE THAT HAD NOT BEEN A PUPIL. 
On a Sabbath, in midsummer, there was 
an appointment for preaching about twelve 
miles west of the Mission. It was a very 
hot day. The rays of the sun were poured 
down upon us, even through our umbrellas, 
and fearing a sun-stroke, we frequently 
lifted our hats to let fresh air in upon our 
heads. The ground too, which had long 
been scorched, seemed to be in a humour to 
scorch others, and it sent up its steaming 
vapours, and radiated heat into our faces. 
We dared not urge our horses lest they 
might melt, and, as you may suppose, by 



INDIAN COUNTKY. 105 

the time we arrived at the house where the 
meeting was to be, we were pretty tired ; and 
when the Indian woman started out to the 
trees near by, to pick up some of the fallen 
fruit, we began to feel revived, just with the 
thought of ripe mellow fruit to wet our 
parched throats. Soon the woman returned 
with six uncommonly large and rich peaches. 
She laid them carefully on the table. Then 
went for a knife, and placed it beside the 
peaches. Then put a stool up by the side 
of the table. And then — then what did she ? 
Why, she just sat down on that stool, and 
took the knife, and herself devoured those 
six peaches without saying a word to any 
one, and then arose and walked away with 
an air of satisfaction ; leaving it for the hens 
and their chickens to dispose of the parings. 

We didn't inquire where that woman was 
educated : it was not at any of the Mission 
schools. 

But, in regard to the meeting. When we 
arrived, one of the men took down an ox- 
horn, (a common piece of furniture in an 



106 SCENES IN" THE 

Indian's cabin,) and walked out upon a 
slight eminence, and away from the trees, 
and blew it ; making a noise that might have 
been heard for miles around. Scarce any re- 
sponded to to it, however, for there was a 
"a big meeting" somewhere, and the Indians, 
who delight in great gatherings in the woods, 
will travel many miles to a camp meeting, or 
any " big meeting," passing by the quiet chapel. 
We preached, nevertheless, though it was to 
but eight souls ; and rode our twelve miles 
home again, holding umbrellas over our 
heads, except where we passed through por- 
tions of the forest. 

PREACHING. 

On each Sabbath day there was preaching 
at the Mission, and an evening meeting 
at least once during the week. Sabbath 
schools were conducted in adjacent neigh- 
bourhoods, where it was practicable, by the 
lay brethren. The ministers had stated 
meetings at different points in the nation ; 
some on the Sabbath, and some on week days. 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 107 

Of these, some were not so far off but that 
we might ride to them on Sabbath morning, 
and return in the evening; to other places, 
it was necessary to go on Saturday and re- 
turn on Monday. 

At a few of these out stations, there were 
men residing. who were qualified and will- 
ing to serve as interpreters. Such a place 
was Conchatee, a village several miles to the 
west, and on the opposite bank of the river, 
where were a few Christian families, in 
which a missionary would be cheerfully en- 
tertained. 

EVENING PREACHING AT CABINS. 

Few services were pleasanter than were 
those meetings held on a week-day evening, 
in an Indian's humble dwelling. Taking 
the interpreter, and a few of the larger boys 
of the school, in order to secure good sing- 
ing ; and taking a candle, (for the people of 
the cabin have none,) we walk to the huts, 
one, two, or more miles distant. The dull fire, 
in the wide fire-place, gives light enough to 



108 SCENES IN THE 

enable us to see that there are people present, 
but not enough to enable us to distinguish 
who they are. We light our candle, and in 
lieu of a candlestick, we fix it with a pen- 
knife to the wall; but the wind coming 
in between the logs, and through the 
roof, and down the wide chimney, flares it, 
so that we take it in our fingers; and under 
such circumstances we stand up to read the 
hymns and Scripture, and to preach. 

Perhaps you can fancy the scene. The 
half bent forms of these dusky people, in 
this dusky light; men, women, and chil- 
dren : the women in gowns, and a faded 
handkerchief tied over the head ; the men in 
trowsers, and what looks like a farmer's 
frock with a belt over it; and the children, 
with a shirt, and nothing more: these ar- 
ranged, some on stools, two or three on 
chairs, some on the bed, others crouching on 
their heels; while our school boys stand 
together, where they have found a vacant 
place. The preacher stands before them, 
with a pocket Bible in one hand, and a ra- 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 109 

pidly wasting tallow candle in the other ; 
he speaks one short sentence, or, but a piece 
of a long sentence, and waits for the inter- 
preter, who stands close beside him, to re- 
peat the same in the Muskokee language. 

Some of the audience scarcely raise their 
eyes from the floor during the entire ser- 
vice ; others give us their eye, but now and 
then they raise a hand quickly to brush 
away a tear. In every such assembly we 
may expect to find one or more to whom 
the name of Jesus is precious, even as oint- 
ment poured forth. 

After meeting, we make the best of our 
way home ; now along the cattle path, and 
amongst the bushes, to the peril of our 
clothes ; thankful if our faces escape a 
scratching, or our heads a beating against 
the trees, when we come into the thick and 
darker woods. 

NIGHT MEETING AMONG THE NEGROES. 

About two miles from the Tallahassa 
Mission, was a cluster of cabins occupied by 



110 SCENES IN THE 

the negroes of a plantation. One of these 
cabins was large, and we occasionally held 
a meeting in it. The people all seemed 
glad to have this privilege, and it may be 
that their pleasure was partly on account of 
being noticed by the missionaries. When 
we preached there, the house would be well 
filled with both Indians and negroes, seated 
on rough benches, and the great fire-place, 
with its bright fire, sent a cheering light 
over the audience. 

Not far off was an Indian village, where 
whiskey was sold, and where disorderly fel- 
lows congregated ; and sometimes we were 
disturbed by them. Now and then a drunken 
band would ride by with shouts and yells. 
Occasionally a drunken Indian would surge 
against the door, and force it in, and stag- 
ger in himself, and reel along towards the 
preacher. 

Such an occurrence would produce a 
commotion ; for an Indian intoxicated is an 
object of terror, and especially so to any of 
that race which, according to the creed of 



INDIAN COUNTRY. Ill 

some of the Indians, was intended by the 
Great Spirit to use the spade and the hoe. 
Much management was required to bring 
the Indian to a seat, and to keep him quiet. 
By and by he wouhi get dry again, and 
leave us unceremoniously; or, he would fall 
asleep, and thus we would be rid of his 
noise. 

Those were pleasant seasons. The simple- 
hearted people appeared to drink in the 
words that were spoken: it was not like re- 
peating a thrice told tale to sluggish ears ; 
but it seemed to be received joyfully, like 
good news. The historical portions of the 
Bible, and parables, they listened to without 
ever being tired of them ; and the story of 
the cross was not there repeated to people, 
all of whose ears were dull, and their hearts 
closed. 

One of the company with which we wor- 
shipped there, and who was attentive and 
devout, was a pious old negro woman, fa- 
miliarly called Aunt Chloe. 



112 SCENES IN THE 



AUNT CHLOE. 



On the da}^ we were leaving the nation, 
as we were on the way to Fort Gibson to 
take the boat, we met her; and she says, 
** What! goin' away, MasV?" "Yes," we 
answered. "What! goin' clear away off'? 
goin' back to the States?" "Yes," we re- 
sponded again. Then dropping both hands 
as suddenly as she had raised them at her 
first exclamation, and in a melancholy voice, 
she added, " Well then, may the good Lord 
be merciful ! but what are us poor ignorant 
black folks to do ? Missionaries and teach- 
ers comes ; but then missionaries and teach- 
ers goes away again, as many as comes, and 
there gets no more on 'em after all. Why ! 
ar'n't ye never coming back to preach to 
these ere Indians, and to give us black ones 
some of de crumbs now and again?" "No, 
aunt Chloe, we don't much expect to come 
back again, and well not see one another 
any more in this world then ; so, good bye ; 
God bless you." " Well then — if ye must 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 113 

go — when ye gets back to the States, won't 
ye tell them good peoples there, to think 
about us all, poor ignorant perishing ones 
away out here ? and you, sir, please — you 
won't never stop praying for me, a poor old 
black critter away out west of Arkansaw. 
Good bye. Good bye. May the Lord be a 
wall of fire about ye — your never failing 
help." 

THE WHISKEY VILLAGE. 

That little cluster of cabins which we have 
termed a village, and of which we spoke two 
or three pages back, had a bad reputation. 
We called it a cluster of cabins, and yet it 
was not much of a cluster, nor were they 
very near together. There were three or 
four that were only a few rods apart ; and 
others from a quarter to half a mile distant. 

We were accustomed to make frequent 
excursions; leaving the Mission in the mor- 
ning, and spending the day in visiting from 
village to village, and from house to house ; 
conversing with families, and preaching 

10 » 



114 SCENES IN THE 

wherever a little congregation could be gath- 
ered. 

For one of those days' works I had nnap- 
ped out the course in my own mind, making 
this village the first to be visited ; and when 
we were in the saddle and had proceeded a 
little on the way, the interpreter inquired 
what place we were to make for; and when 
told that we would go right down to that 
town on our right, he exclaimed, " Ah, sir, 
that won't do. It's not far enough past the 
holidays yet. Christmas, you know," he 
added, "lasts as long as there is any whiskey." 
The Indians in that country are rather re* 
markable for their observance of Christmas ; 
but the most that many know about it seems 
to be only that which they have learned from 
the loose-living white men that have lived 
among them, and who usually distin- 
guished the day by their hardest drinking, 
and most reckless carousing. 

Our interpreter, who was at that time an 
elder of the church, and who is now a minis- 
ter, did not wish to expose himself to more 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 115 

insult and abuse than he might be able to 
bear. " It might," as he said, " get the In- 
dian up, and if he were provoked he might 
do something that he would be sorry for." 

He was in the habit, you perceive, of pray- 
ing, " Lead us not into temptation," and 
then endeavouring to practise in accordance 
with his prayers. 

"THE CHALLENGE. 

*' Discretion," somebody has said, " is the 
better part of valour," and having the inter- 
preter's account of the villagers, and seeing 
his aversion to going amongst them, we 
passed along on the straight road ; and he 
proceeded to give some account of an excit- 
ing affair in which he was engaged a few 
evenings before. It was just in the dusk of 
the evening — a cold evening, the ground 
was frozen, the doors were shut, and he and 
his little family were huddled around the 
fire ; when suddenly a horseman galloped 
into the yard, and wheeled before the door ; 
and with terrible yells, and awful curses, 



116 SCENES IN THE 

called out his name, daring him to show 
himself outside the door. After hesitating 
a few moments, trying to think what he 
ought to do, he arose and went out. Then 
the drunken Indian assailed him with his 
tongue, saying, "So many years ago, you 
remember, we were at a ball play. I got mad 
at you and tried to kill you ; but you were 
then the strongest, and you whipped me. I 
have never forgotten it. I mean to kill you 
yet, and I have got drunk to-day for this 
very purpose. I have come here just now 
to fight you, and I shall kill you. Whiskey 
makes me strong." The interpreter said that 
he felt the Indian in him growing, and get- 
ting stronger than the Christian ; and he 
was afraid that if he had to hear more of 
that fellow's insolence he would get too mad, 
and, may-be, strike him ; therefore he kept 
his teeth shut tight together so that he 
should not say a word, for he knew that 
if he would allow himself to begin to scold, 
his passions would rise the faster ; but he 
walked up to the horse's head, took him by 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 117 

the bit, led him rapidly out of the yard, and 
with a smart blow and a whoop, he sent them 
botli galloping down the road ; for the In- 
dian had slightly overdone the thing : he 
had taken an over-dose of the stuff that such 
fellows often take to give them courage ; and 
instead of making him strong, it had proved 
too strong for him : it had made the strong 
man weak. 

After relating the circumstance, the inter- 
preter asked, "Did I do right? Had I suf- 
fered him to remain, very likely he might 
have killed some of us. But I don't know 
when he may come back again ; or I may 
meet him on the road at some time when he 
happens to be just strong enough. These 
Indians are curious ; for when they get 
drunk, they seem to remember all their old 
grudges — all the old scores that they haven't 
paid off, and at such times they don't care if 
they get killed themselves, providing they 
can first kill their enemy." 



118 SCENES IN THE 



DRUNKEN INDIANS. 

It is not pleasant to encounter Indians, 
when the demon, called up by intemperance, 
possesses them. 

Once, when riding alone, and in a lonely 
place, I heard the discordant whooping 
which proceeds only from those who are 
greatly excited and thoughtless. Soon, 
three tall, lank forms appeared in sight, and 
coming on to meet me. They were on foot. 
My horse was tall and strong, and had 
gradually been getting up a strong and 
steady pace that would carry him past any 
slight obstruction. They began shouting, 
"Who are you? Where you come from ? 
Where you going ?" and were closing in 
around as if to shake hands ; we reached 
out a hand to the nearest one — for it is best 
to exhibit confidence in them, and friendli- 
ness. Good naturedly we answered all 
their questions, and put others to them. 
Yery likely they may have been peaceably 
enough disposed ; but somehow, many of the 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 119 

Indians retain the notion that all this country 
once belonged to them, and by right should 
still be theirs; that the white man robbed them 
of it ; that, therefore, all his present wealth 
was made from the Indian's lands, and 
consequently, the Indian has still a right to 
whatever he can get from the white man. 
This may account in part for the surliness 
with which they receive their annuities from 
the Government ; and for the large demands, 
and small thanks with which they receive 
the missionaries and teachers that come to 
labour and suffer for their good : they regard 
it, not as a boon, but as a debt. 

TRAVELLERS DISTURBED. 

Two of the missionaries, one a minister, 
the other the steward and farmer, were re- 
turning from the Seminole Mission, where 
they had been to attend a sacramental meet- 
ing: the minister to preach and administer 
the ordinances. Where they stopped for 
the night, they were refused admittance 
into the house, and were only allowed to 



120 SCENES IN THE 

spread their blankets under the open ahed 
in front of the cabin. There they were 
sleeping soundly after a hard day's ride. 
But in the middle of the night they 
were awakened by the yelling of Indians, 
and the sound of many horses' feet ap- 
proaching nearer and nearer. Presently 
the horses stop, and no sound is heard : then 
they move again, but only one approaches 
the place where our travellers are. He 
drew up before the cabin, and in the Indian 
language, called out to the people within, 
to arise, and bring him instantly a drink of 
cold water. But they had barricaded their 
doors before going to bed, and they made 
no answer whatever to the insolent demand. 
The Indian still sat on his pony, on the 
other side of the low rail fence, and still 
demanding a drink of cold water. The mis- 
sionaries remained quiet for a while, till 
one of them, thinking that if he should get 
Lis drink of water, he would go on his way, 
and leave them to their slumbers once more, 
arose and went to the spring for it. The 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 121 

lordly Indian drank, but immediately de- 
manded whiskey. "No," says the missionary, 
"we have no whiskey," and immediately went 
back to his bed again. The Indian insisted 
that there was whiskey on the premises, 
and he would not go away till he should get 
some, and he grew more noisy and abusive. 
Now he dismounted, and came over the 
fence to where the travellers were lying. 
One of them, who was the farmer, arose and 
sat on one side of the table that stood by 
the wall, and the Indian leaned or sat upon 
the other side. "Now," said the Indian, " I 
must have some whiskey." The traveller 
assured him that they had none, and that it 
would be an impossibility to get it. 

" Well, then," said the other^ "you have 
money, and with that I can help myself to 
what I want. White men never travel with- 
out money, and I am bound to have some ; 
and I will not leave you till I get it." 

"You'll never get it from me,"said the tra- 
veller, in a slow and steady voice. 

Then the Indian began drawing out bis 
11 



122 SCENES IN THE 

knife, and running "his tbumb along its 
edge ; and then the farmer also quietly drew 
out his big pocket knife, and displayed its 
long blade. The Indian was still talking 
largely ; but, apparently without seeming to 
do it with any particular design, he reached 
across the table and felt the white man's 
arm, before he ventured to grapple with 
him; and he found there a large round mass 
of hard muscles. The tone of the Indian's 
voice now changed, and, beating as honour- 
able a retreat as possible, he left the travel- 
lers to sleep till morning. 

So, we see, presence of mind and a strong 
arm are very convenient, oftentimes. 

ITINERATING. 

It has been intimated that, whenever we 
could command the time, and could have 
the services of an interpreter, we were ac- 
customed to spend a day in visiting from 
village to village, and from house to house, 
over a given section of the country. It 
would be tedious to relate everything that 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 123 

might occur in sucli a day's work; and yet, 
if we could but lake our readers around 
with us ou two or three such excursions, 
they would get a more correct view of this 
kind of missionary labour, than in any other 
way. Suppose you come with us then. It 
is a day in the month of December, but not 
very cold ; for you must recollect we are in 
latitude 36° where the winters are not very 
severe. We have quite sudden, and some- 
times extreme changes, however ; therefore 
we lay a heavy overcoat over the saddle, 
for though we do not need it in the morn- 
ing, we may before night. The interpreter 
is well mounted on his own horse, and we 
have Wellington, who has been the favour- 
ite of several missionaries, a noble, intelli- 
gent, and affectionate creature. We strilie 
out N. W., towards what is termed The 
Mountain, which is about three miles from 
the Mission. 

On the opposite side of it is a family, of 
which we know but little: they are never 
seen at church, therefore we will carry the 



124: SCENES IN THE 

gospel to them, so that they shall not have 
it to say that nobody cared for their souls. 
In passing through a stretch of low land, we 
worry through tall grass and weeds ; it is 
higher than our heads while seated on the 
horses' backs. 

We reach the house; it is nothing differ- 
ent from a great many others in the country. 
There is a field, a cow pen, and a small log- 
pen, covered with thatch, for a stable. A 
small square log-house with one room, co- 
vered with long narrow pieces of oak split 
thin for shingles, and these not nailed, but 
held to their place by heavy poles laid along 
the roof. There is not a sawed board about 
the premises. The floor is of what are called 
puncheons — thick plank split and hewed 
tolerably smooth on one side ; seats are 
made of the same material. The table was 
made with the hatchet, of such boards as 
cover the roof, and they are fastened to- 
gether with small wooden pegs. The doors 
have wooden hinges and a wooden latch. 
At the side of the room are holes bored into 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 125 

the logs, and wooden pins driven into the 
holes — on some of the pins are placed split 
boards: a few articles of dress hang on the 
pins, and a few dishes are set on the shelves. 
Over the door, a well kept rifle rests on its 
wooden hooks. 

They have two guests whose home is away 
to the south-west, on the south fork of the 
Canadian river ; and they are journeying to 
the " Missouri line ;" we did n't ask if they 
were going to buy whiskey, though we sus- 
pected it might be the case. The guests 
were at breakfast. Their fare was salt pork 
fried hard, corn cake, a large bowl of pork 
gravy instead of butter, sweet potatoes 
boiled, and coffee very strong without milk 
or sugar. 

We make a few remarks and inquiries, 
such as are usually heard when neighbours 
meet. They answer in monosyllables, but 
make no inquiries of us. All is silent, ex- 
cept while loe are speaking. We see there 
is no such thing as engaging them in a con- 
versation on any subject ; so without fur- 
11* 



126 SCENES IS THE 

ther delay we tell them wlio we are, and on 
what business we have come all this distance 
on purpose to see them. 

They know, or pretend to know, scarce 
anything at all of the gospel plan of salva- 
tion, and the children, a half-dozen of them, 
seem altogether ignorant on religious sub- 
jects; therefore we undertake to impart as 
much instruction as is possible to be given 
in half an hour, on points the most needful 
for a person to know, if he were not to hear 
another sermon before he goes to the judg- 
ment. 

We ask the children a few questions 
on what has been said, sing a Muskokee 
hymn, the interpreter leads in prayer, and 
we rise to depart, shaking hands all around 
again ; and while we stand with one hand 
on the door-latch, and the hat in the other, 
a short dialogue is spoken, through the in- 
terpreter. 

" Now Mr. , we shall see you at meet- 
ing at the Mission next Sabbath, won't we ?" 
" Don't know when that day comes." " It 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 127 

comes day after to-morrow — you will be there, 
won't you?" "Doubtful." " Why not come?" 
" Too far." " Its only about three miles." 
" Too far." " No, it's not too far, if you may 
there be told how to find the way to heaven. 
Think of these children. Don't you wish to 
have them instructed in the way to worship 
God, and to secure immortal life?" He 
makes no reply, only mutters something to 
himself; and again, and finally we ask, "You 
will bring all your family over to the Mission 
next Sabbath, won't you? Half-past tea is 
the time. Good day." 

THE VISION. 

The next place we will take you to is the 
residence of the Mekko or king of Osichee 
town. He is the Mekko No. 2. He has 
no seat or vote in the national council, but 
has more influence in his own town, and 
amongst his own clan, than the Mekko No. 1, 
who is a member of the council of the na- 
tion. The secret of their preference for one 
above the other is, that No. 1 receives pay 



128 SCENES IJS" THE 

for his services, and No. 2 does not. In the 
same way they "take to" ministers and physi- 
cians. They have strong prejudices against 
a *' hireling priesthood ;" but a fondness for 
any ox that will patiently tread out the corn 
with the mouth muzzled. 

The interpreter expressed fears that we 
might not be cordially received should the 
Mekko be at home, for he knew him to be a 
bitter enemy to Christianity and its reforms; 
and stoutly attached to all the old Indian 
ceremonies and traditions. 

We find two cabins near each other, and 
both seem to be occupied. This looks as 
if the man had two wives ; and it is not 
unlawful, we believe, for a man in this na- 
tion to take as many wives as he can sup- 
port ; at any rate, polygamy is practised 
here to some extent. We go up to one of 
the cabins, and knock at the door. A faint 
voice bids us come in. The occupant of the 
room is a poor sick woman, apparently near 
her death ; it is the Mekko's wife. She is 
free to converse — says she is glad, very glad 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 129 

to see us ; she seems hungry for instruction, 
and puts away the bed clothes from her ears, 
and stretches out her head towards the inter- 
preter, so as to catch every word. 

She has " an expedience," and seems de- 
sirous that we should hear it, and give an 
opinion as to whether it is sufficient to base a 
hope on. Former!}^ (as she proceeds to re- 
late) she had been in the practice of going to 
preaching whenever opportunity was afford- 
ed ; but she had never felt any special inter- 
est in religion, or alarm in respect to her 
spiritual condition, till she was taken sick; and 
she was very sick and getting worse ; and so 
she continued for many weeks, and they told 
her she must die. 

One day her man was gone to procure 
something for her, and there was no person 
in the house, and all was still around; when 
she heard ( imagined she heard ) the sound 
of a great multitude of voices far, far up in 
the sky, and they were singing — oh, so beau- 
tifully were they singing! faintly at first, 
but gradually descending towards the earth, 



130 SCENES IN THE 

and their music swelling more full and loud 
till it seemed to be just at the door, and she 
expected the next moment to behold the 
glory-clad visitants from heaven ; but then 
the singing ceased, and she saw and heard 
no more. 

From that time she began to think seri- 
ously about death, and to wish for that pre- 
paration for it which was necessary, what- 
ever that preparation might be. She spent 
much time in prayer and tried to be good. 
Afterwards she recovered ; and for a long 
time she attended preaching when there was a 
meeting within reach — she sung and prayed, 
and endeavoured to do right, and thought 
she was succeeding pretty well in pleasing 
God, and getting a preparation for death. 
But unfortunately, a neighbour woman came 
in and talked saucily and provoked her, and 
she scolded back; and then her good feelings 
left her, and she felt ugly and wicked ; and 
after that she did n't strive any more to be 
good. But very soon after this she was ta- 
ken sick again ; and she had no doubt that 



' INDIAN COUNTRY. 131 

it was in judgment from God, because sbe 
flew into that passion and scolded the 
woman, and ceased praying and singing 
hymns ; and now she feared she should never 
arise from that sick bed again, and she did 
not feel at all easy in regard to her prepar- 
ation for the next world ; but then — and 
this was the straw which the drowning wo- 
man was catching at — but then she had heard 
(fancied she had heard) that sweet sing- 
ing such as mortals could not equal — what 
did that mean, she argued, unless it was that 
" Hesaketumese" ( God) had taken this meth- 
od to give her a sign that he was pleased 
with her ? 

We told her what we thought of it, that it 
was probably a sort of dream — she might 
have been half asleep, and half awake. We 
told her that she needed a better hope than 
that ; she needed to see herself a sinner, and 
Christ the Saviour of sinners. We told her, 
and endeavoured to explain how it was, that 
her prayers and hymns in themselves, and 
her trying to be good, had not been helping 



132 SCENES IN THE 

her on to heaven at all ; for we are so imper- 
fect, while God is so holy, and his law so high, 
that nothing but the righteousness of Christ 
can reach it. 

For a longtime we talked to her, shelistened 
with almost painful earnestness. We alluded 
to the subject of her dream, or her fancy— 
the music of the heavenly inhabitants ; and 
we told her that none can join in that song 
but those who have been taught it by the 
Holy Spirit, and she could be taught it: 
God was ready to forgive all her sins; Christ 
was ready to wash her in his blood ; the 
Holy Spirit was ready to sanctify her whol- 
ly ; she had only to cry, " God be merciful 
to me a sinner ;" but she must do it in all 
earnestness, and look nowhere else for help; 
and now was the time if ever, for her days 
on the earth were few, it was very likely, as 
her friends had warned her. 

During our conversation other members 
of the family had gathered into the room, 
and remained eager listeners. 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 133 

After singing and prayer we pass on. 
The woman lived but a day or two; and 
whether, when the soul was freed from the 
body, angels bore it home to join in their 
song, and the song of the redeemed, we will 
not know till we also get there, if indeed 
that blessedness shall be granted us. 

ANOTHER VISION. 

When we were on our way again, I said 
to the interpreter, "Indians seem to be fa- 
voured with more dreams and visions than 
other people, don't they ?" " I guess so," 
be said, '* they must imagine these things; 
or may-be their eyes are sharper than white 
men's. They see ghosts, and witches, and 
such like, a great deal easier than you do, 
you know.'' And then he proceeded to re- 
hearse part of a conversation which he over- 
heard the other day, between two old men ; 
one an Indian, the other a negro. The old 
Indian was boasting that he was never going 
to die, at least, not for many years yet. 
"IIow do you know that?" asked the negro. 

12 



134 SCENES IN THE 

" Because," responded the other, '' I had a 
vision lately, ahd the prophet has inter- 
preted it to me as meaning that I shall 
never die, or, at any rate, not for a great 
while yet." " Well, what was your vision ?" 
asked the negro. " Well, it was this," said 
the other. " I saw God ; that was the amount 
of it." " Saw God ! and how did he look ?" 
*' Why he was an old man, with white locks, 
a row of great white feathers stood out 
across his back, and there was a circle of 
fire all around him, and it was very hot, so 
that nobody could come near him." " Ha !" 
said the negro. " More like it was the devil 
you saw ; for the Scriptures say that no 
man hath seen God's shape, and no man 
could see him and live." 

ODDLY CONSTRUCTED VEHICLES. 

On our way, we meet a yoke of oxen haul- 
ing a primitive kind of wagon. The wheels 
are nothing more nor less than sections of a 
saw-log — a very short saw-log, say about 
four inches long, and two feet in diameter, 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 135 

with the heart chiselled out, and this runs 
on the axle. Soon another carriage is met, 
more primitive yet : it is nothing more nor 
less than the crotch of a tree, in the shape 
of the letter Y, with the sharp end forward 
and upright stakes set in to hold the load 
on. There are good wagons in the country, 
but not very many of the Indians are rich 
enough to own one. 

JOURNAL CONTINUED. 

We approach heavy timber ; and now we 
come to a "branch "near to its junction 
with the Yerdigris. We have to descend a 
steep bank. It is far down to the water, 
and is dark on account of the overhanging 
trees: the interpreter, however, makes no- 
thing of it, and keeps his seat in the saddle, 
humming a hymn to himself, while his horse 
is carefully trying to hold himself from 
plunging headlong down the almost precipi- 
tous foot path ; but I was afraid, and dis- 
mounted, and led the horse down to the 
water's edge, then remounting, we forded, 



136 SCENES IN THE 

and clambered up the opposite bank. Sooq 
we emerge from the thick woods, and come 
into the " openings," where are scattering 
trees. The earth is covered with grass, 
very rank ; the fire has not yet run through 
it, but it is dry ; yet near the ground it is 
still green — here, and all about over the 
country, is space for thousands of farms, 
and pasture for such a stock as Job had, and 
that many times over. It is a long stretch 
now till we come to the Osichee busk house, 
and " square :" a desolate country it is to 
ride over, and not a habitation in sight ; 
not a person do we meet, nor have we any 
trail, not even a cattle path. It is past noon 
when we arrive at the busk house. We 
find here, and in the vicinity, several fami- 
lies. The women and children are at home, 
but no men are seen. The people seem 
poor : they are scantily clad ; some of the 
little ones almost naked : the women show 
but little taste or ambition to appear well. 
Their busk house is a rude affair ; merely 
crotches set in the ground, and covered with 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 137 

poles and bushes. We are not at all cor- 
dially received here; the children are rude, 
and the women are surly. We begin to 
talk with one, and she starts out to pick up 
sticks to replenish a feeble fire outside of 
the house, over which is a small black pot, 
in which, perhaps, is their dinner. They 
do not even ask us to a seat. The sun is 
very warm now, and we are weary, and begin 
too, to feel the want of some refreshment, 
but that we will not find till we get home ; 
and this cold reception is very dishearten- 
ing, and causes us to feel our bodily fatigue 
more ; but we ride on, going southerly, then 
bending around towards the south-east, on 
a trail which will take us home. By and 
by we come to a house, in which we find 
several people. They are better dressed, 
and more polite than some we were last 
with. A few rods from the house, we had 
stopped to speak with a couple of men who 
were putting up a little structure over a 
new made grave — a miniature cabin it was. 
It was the grave of an Indian that I had seen 

12* 



138 SCENES IN THE 

and conversed with, only three or four days 
before, at a gathering where the chiefs were 
distributing the annuities just received from 
Washington. This man had exposed him- 
self; perhaps had slept on the ground, and 
without covering, and his camp fire had 
gone out ; for it was a cold and rainy time. 
He took a violent cold, which seized some 
vital part — the pleura, or the lungs, and he 
died in a day or two. " The Cold Plague," 
they call it; and many go off in this way. 

Some of the neighbours and relatives were 
at the house, and we tried to improve the oc- 
casion by some timely instruction on the sub- 
ject of death; the state after death, the pre- 
paration needed, and the consolations those 
may have who have lost friends that gave 
evidence of having been the friends of God, 
and are now taken to dwell for ever with him. 
But our conversation did not seem to be 
relished by them, and that dampened our 
spirits again. " Who hath believed our re- 
port?" we say. 

The widow of the deceased was there, and 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 139 

of all the company, she alone refused to 
shake hands with us. She had, already, by 
her friends, been put into what they call 



Which must continue for three years, 
though they may reckon the years like as 
do some of the Asiatic nations ; not neces- 
sarily three whole years, or three times three 
hundred and sixty five days ; but there 
may be parts of the three years as marked 
by the annual revolution of the earth — 
there may be in the time during which 
they are so " devoted " only a part of the 
first and third years, with the whole of the 
second. 

Some have thought that this may be some- 
thing resembling the vow of the Nazarite ; 
or like the perpetual virginity or widowhood 
of Jephthah's daughter. 

During the time of her widowhood, a 
woman is appointed to take care of her ; it 
may be her mother-in-law, or sister-in-law. 
This woman must feed her, comb her hair, 



140 SCENES IN THE 

and attend her wherever she goes. The 
widow may not shake hands with a man 
during the time of her widowhood ; for 
should she do it the charm is broken, and 
she must commence anew. Of course she 
may not marry during the time, and when 
at length she does marry it must be under 
the direction of the relatives of her former 
husband, and a person of his clan ; but if no 
suitable person can be found in that clan, she 
is at liberty to marry as she pleases. 

The penalty (according to the statute) for 
breaking these rules, is to be beaten by the re- 
latives of the deceased husband, and to have 
both the ears cut off. AVidowers are like- 
wise put under similar restrictions, but the 
season of widowhood is shorter — only four 
months. The penalties however are the 
same. 

How the Indians came by these, and many 
other customs which bear not a faint resem- 
blance to some of the old Levitical rites, we 
will not now stop to inquire. But really it 
may well awaken a curiosity, and we have 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 14.1 

a right to wonder if some, at least, of the 
aborigines of this continent did not come 
around from Asia by Behring's Strait, bring- 
ing with them some of the traditions bor- 
rowed from the Jews, if indeed they were 
not stragglers of the lost Ten Tribes. 

But we are detaining you with scraps of 
the conversation which we had with the 
interpreter on the way home. 

When we start again it is with the pur- 
pose of going through without any more 
stops. The weather has now changed, and 
we need that big coat ; it is raining too, and 
there's a prospect of a wet, dark night Dis- 
regarding the trial, we take a direct course to 
the Mission; which however is not always best, 
and seldom safe unless you travel by compass, 
or with an experienced guide who knows 
where to cross the sloughs and the ravines. 

As we neared the Mission, the interpreter 
turned to me inquiring, *' And what should 
a man do when he is coming home?" This 
requires that we explain a short conversa- 
tion of the morning about 



Ii2 SCENES IN THE 



SOAKING THE SEED. 



We were in sight of the first house on 
our outward journey, and were riding slowly 
along ; neither of us having spoken for some 
minutes, when I broke the silence by asking 
the interpreter, "Are you soaking the seed, 

Mr. W ?" "Am I what?" said he. 

" Are you soaking the seed ?" I repeated. 
Then I had to repeat, as nearly as I remem- 
bered it, the anecdote respecting the clergy- 
man who was lamenting to his brother 
clergyman that though he endeavoured to 
be faithful and abundant in all his minis- 
terial labours, sowing good seed ; yet he 
saw no apparent fruits of his work in the 
conversion of sinners : and his neighbour 
replied, "Do you soa^ your seed, brother? 
The ground may be properly prepared, and 
the seed may be good^ but do you soak it ?" 
By which, as we explained to the inter- 
preter, he meant, Do you pray over the 
word as you study and preach ? Do you go 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 143 

forth weeping while you bear the precious 
seed ? 

And again addressing the interpreter we 
added, "By your silence and seriousness, 
one might presunne that you were thus 
soaking the good seed of the word — pray- 
ing for God's blessing on all the work of the 
day before us." 

He seemed pleased with this new way of 
expressing an idea, and of illustrating a 
duty with which he was already familiar: 
and as appeared, had not forgotten it through 
the day ; and after that day's planting was 
done, he enquires what else there was to be 
done. " When we go out, we must soak the 
seed. When we come back, what shall we 
do ?" We replied, " How do you treat 
your garden ? You plant not only, but you 
hoe, and pull up weeds, and kill the insects 
and vermin ; if it is a dry time, you yater 
the tender plants ; and you keep it well 
fenced. Now all this must be done in our 
spiritual garden. It is not enough to go 
over the ground once; we will have to visit 



lii SCENES IN THE 

it again and again. We will have to ' get 
up early to the vineyards and see if the vine 
flourish, whether the tender grape appear, 
and the pomegranates bud forth.' " 

That man is a preacher now, and we trust 
that he does not forget to soak the seed, nor 
grow weary in the equally necessary work 
of watering the plants. 

FOOT PRINTS IN THE ROCK. 

On our return we must have come very near 
the rocks which have the " foot prints ;" a 
broad space of bare rocks, it is, in a low 
place too, and water runs over a part of it, and 
it is marked all over with tracks of people, 
large and small ; but for the ring of your 
horse's hoofs you might suppose you were 
ridinor over a bed of mud all tracked over. 
The Indians have been questioned about it, 
but from their various accounts, it is clear 
that the present owners of the country know 
nothing more about them than we would be 
able to conjecture. Some suppose that they 
were cut by Indians once living, or roaming 



INDIAN" COUNTRY. 145 

hereabouts, to warn their friends that there 
were enemies near ; and that the bearing of 
the tracks indicated the direction in which 
the foe was marching. In another place, we 
were told, were similar foot marks of deer, 
and other game. This they said was prob- 
ably made as a sign that such game was in 
the neighbourhood. Bather a tedious way 
of talking by the impromptu method of signs 
it struck us ; but as we had no more plausible 
theory to offer, we let it pass. We visited that 
locality once in company with a friend, who 
had provided himself with chisel and mallet, 
and bag. He selected a pair of large moc- 
casoned foot prints which were found side 
by side ; he cut a channel around them, and 
deeper than the foot prints, and then split 
off the slab. He contended strongly that it 
was a " recent formation ;" others tried to 
prove to him that the tracks were cut with 
some instrument. However, he boxed up 
his specimen, and forwarded it to the Smith- 
sonian Institute. 

13 



146 SCENES TN THE 



ANOTHER DAY'S WORK. 

Early on the morning of a day in Febru- 
ary we started from the Tallahassa Mission 
for a day of missionary work in a town ly- 
ing in the fork of the Yerdigris and Arkan- 
sas river. We rode directly there, that we 
might have as much of the day as possible 
for visiting the families of the village. 

Passing a store kept by a white trader, all 
the living thing we saw was the merchant, 
with a bland smile, giving the morning sal- 
utation to a hard looking, very black, and 
very small specimen of an Indian, who had 
dismounted from a little black pony, and 
who was coming towards the store with a 
little black bottle, to get it filled there or 
somewhere else with that liquid which leads 
to the perpetration of so many black crimes, 
and which hurries so many ruined souls to 
the place of outer darkness. We paid but 
little attention to either of the parties; not 
dreaming that we were again that day to en- 
counter the same dark trio. 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 147 



This village bears the name of 



TULSEY TOWN. 

And there is another place of the same 
name, we believe, farther up the country; 
but both belong to one clan. The latter 
town, as we notice in the last Annual Report, 
is an out station of the Kowetah Mission, 
and there were several additions to the 
Church from these people. We found their 
settlement on the rich land of the river 
bottom, where the trees grow larger; and to 
make a clearing for a farm must have been 
a formidable undertaking. These are the 
peccan tree, the cottonwood, oaks, and hick- 
ory, and a great many others, with their 
trailing vines ; and some of these vines had 
trunks from four to six inches through. 
Along the edges of the forest, and in the 
openings, many of the great trees were spot- 
ted over with great tufts of green ; this is 
the " misletoe bough." 

We proceed first to the farthest house in 
the settlement, intending if possible to see 



MB SCENES IN THE 

and have conversation with every individual 
to be found in it. At this house they had 
just been butchering a beef, and several 
men were about. They made no objection 
to giving us a little time ; and all gathered 
before the door under the thatched shed, and 
we had a short religious service. Some of 
these people were friends of our Master ; 
and they welcomed us to their town, and 
thanked us for the words of instruction and 
consolation. That was a cheering begin- 
ning of our day's labour. 

Next we made our way towards a very 
little hut. As we drew near, a woman came 
out, and attempted to escape into the woods 
which were close by. She was a frightfully 
squalid creature. We judged that she was 
in widowhood, and that those whose business 
it should be to attend to her toilet were ne- 
glecting their duty ; and that her fear of be- 
ing asked to shake hands might account for 
her vehement haste to get away from us. 
Her hair was hanging in matted bunches ; 
the remnants of an old calico dress were 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 149 

still hanging about her ; a dirty and tattered 
shawl or blanket was drawn close over her 
head and shoulders. 

We wished to arrest her flight, if it were 
only for a few moments, just enough to 
speak a word or two, which might lead her 
to think about her soul, and the importance 
of obtaining a preparation for that place 
where there is no more widowhood, and 
where the days of mourning are ended. To 
our morning salutation, she made no an- 
swer : to some other inquiries she simply 
waved the hand, and would have hurried 
into the woods ; but we tried again to arrest 
her attention, and we asked if she had ever 
heard about Jesus. To this she answered, 
"Yes ;" and said that her son had sometimes 
been to meeting, and when he came home, 
told her what the preacher had said. And 
this was the sum of our conversation with 
her. 

Two small children were playing in the 

dirt, near the house ; but it could not make 

them anv more dirty than they were. 
13-*" 



wo SCENES IN THE 

In the house where we next stopped, we 
found a young man and two women. "We 
had no difficulty in introducing the subject 
of religion here. They professed to be dis- 
ciples of Jesus, and as far as we could judge, 
they bore pleasing marks of being disciples 
indeed. As we read portions of Scripture^ 
and 'Commented on them, they listened with 
an interest not usually manifested by In- 
dians; and in the hymn and prayer they 
joined in that manner that warm-hearted 
Christians are wont to do. It was pleasant 
to sit with them, though it was on a narrow 
stool in a little cabin, with no light when 
the door was closed, except the few sooty 
rays which came down the stick chimney. 

The falling tears, and the earnest pressure 
of the hand when we parted, was an assur- 
ance that our visit was gratefully received. 
There is a peculiarly delightful, grateful 
feeling, which we would in vain attempt to 
describe to any person that had not felt it ; 
that feeling which one who has long been 
living amongst those who are strangers to 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 151 

Christ, and who are the enemies to religion, 
has, when he meets with a friend of Christ — 
a converted pagan, now loving the Saviour 
whom he loves, singing the songs which he 
sings, able to join with him in the same 
prayer, and longing for the same heavenly 
inheritance. 

We continued in this manner to go from 
house to house ; but time wore on, and we 
were likely to fall far short of accomplish- 
ing our desire of visiting every family ; 
therefore, that we might have an opportu- 
nity of delivering our message to every in- 
habitant of the place, we attempted to gather 
all the people in one place and preach to 
them. A central position was selected, and 
permission obtained of the inmates of the 
cabin to hold our meeting before their door. 
"We went about circulating the notice, and 
requested others to do the same. 

While the people were collecting, I went 
inside the cabin, and there found a poor 
suffering creature — - 



152 SCENES IN THE 



A SICK WOMAN. 

She was lying before the fire-place, ia 
which were two half-burnt sticks, and the 
smoke, instead of going up the chimney, 
was wandering about the room. She had 
scarcely any dress, and no other cover- 
ing ; and had only two narrow split boards 
to keep her emaciated body from the damp 
earth ; for the cabin had no floor. She said 
that her husband sold whiskey, and drank it 
too; that he was absent that day. She 
voluntarily confessed, and with the signs of 
a troubled conscience, that she had helped 
him in the shameful business of obtaining, 
secreting, and dealing out the fire-water. 

She could talk a little in broken English, 
and we had some conversation, which, per- 
haps, may have been profitable to her. She 
was sensible that her time was short. Her 
previous life gave her no satisfaction when 
she looked back over it ; the present was 
gloomy and troubled, and the future was all 
uncertain. In youth, she was giddy, and 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 153 

spent her time in frolics, and going about 
seeking pleasure; when she became a wo- 
man, slie was still thoughtless and wicked ; 
when thoughts about death and eternity 
came into her mind, she hastily drove them 
out again. But now, for three or four 
months she had been sick, and for much of 
the time, had been lying as I saw her, un- 
able to cook her husband's victuals, or even 
to help herself When he went away, he left 
scarce anything for her comfort, and when 
he returned, it was to ill-treat her. Her 
notions about a future state were much con- 
fused ; but she had heard too much of the 
Bible and its teachings, and was too well 
convinced of its truth, to feel at ease in the 
creed of the Indian, viz : that the Great 
Spirit, being their father, has a hunting 
ground for them, and that he will certainly 
take all his red children to it. She desired 
to know how to avoid going to the place of 
torment ; and as we undertook to explain 
to her, in few words, how the sinner may 
flee from the wrath to come, and lay hold 



154 SCENES IN THE 

on eternal life, she turned up her haggard 
face, and with her trembling, bony fingers 
put aside the uncombed hair, as we told of 
Him who came to save sinners, even the 
chief — that we have only to feel our need 
of him, and to cry, Lord, save or I perish. 
We told her of his acts of love and mercy, 
while on the earth ; how he healed the sick 
and forgave sins ; how the thief on the cross 
found pardon. We told her of the mansions 
which Jesus had gone to prepare, and if she 
was only willing to be his friend, he would, 
by and by, come and take her home to him- 
self. 

But she was afraid she could not understand 
all this ; her mind, she said, was dark, and 
her heart was hard, and she had been such 
a wicked woman; but she felt that there 
could be but few more days for her on the 
earth, and what must she do? Poor woman ! 
what indeed could she do ? We prayed 
that she might be able to see the whole 
truth ; to see that she was lost, and unless 
Jesus rescued her she would be lost for ever ; 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 155 

and we directed her to pray — even as she 
lay there on the ground, for Jesus was 
present everywhere — to pray to Jesus telling 
him that she was poor, and ignorant, and 
dull; that she was a sinner, and had no 
goodness ; and beg him to have mercy and 
help her, forgive her sins, and give her a new 
heart. We assured her that if she would 
with all her heart offer this prayer, and con- 
tinue to offer it, Christ would hear and 
answer : for he says, " Him that cometh to 
me, I will in no wise cast out." 

We felt that it was a great privilege to 
be able to point a dying fellow creature to 
the Lamb of God that taketh away sin ; and 
we earnestly prayed to Him whose gospel is 
prepared for the poor, that he would now 
look in compassion upon her who was 
every way so wretched and miserable ; open- 
ing the eyes of her understanding, taking 
away her sins, and clothing her in his own 
righteousness. 



156 SCENES IN THE 

**THIS BE INDIAN HUNTING GROUND." 

A company of perhaps twenty people had 
assembled in the yard, on the leeward side 
of the house : there were no men in the 
company, but women and children only. 
The women with blankets drawn lightly 
over their heads, and witli their shy looks ; 
the children bare-headed, and bare-footed. 

The service was proceeding pleasantly; 
we were engaged in reading and explaining 
a portion of the word of God ; all was still ; 
the audience was attentive, and the door of 
the cabin was a-jar so that the sick woman 
might hear ; when all at once there was 
a nervous movement in the company, as 
when the leaves of the forest are stirred by 
a single puff of wind. Then all was still 
again ; they held their breath ; every head 
was inclined, and the open ears, held in a 
certain direction: then asimultaneous "hiih;" 
and then our own dull ears caught the sound 
of an Indian whooping ; and then the clatter- 
iog of horses' hoofs coming rapidly down a 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 157 

path in rear of the cabin, and around tlirough 
the gap and into the yard. A frightful ap- 
parition ! It was that little black Indian 
we had seen near the store in the morning ; 
and yet not quite the same person either, 
for then he was sober, now he was crazy 
drunk. His long and coarse black hair 
flew about more wildly ; his skin seemed 
blacker, his eyes bigger and more fiery, his 
mouth wider, and his teeth sharper than 
then. Cursing in bad English, and scolding 
in Indian, he plunged into the yard, bounded 
from his pony, and came fiercely towards 
us, swinging both arms lustily, and crying 
out, "This be Indian hunting ground! 
What white man doing here ? This be 
Indian hunting ground,! say ! What white 
man doing here ?" The women drew their 
blankets tighter about their heads and scat- 
tered ; some behind the cabin, some into the 
bushes. The interpreter stood his ground, 
but was considerably disconcerted. 

I stepped forward — but quite uncertain 
as to the result — and offered my hand to the 

14 



1^8 SCENES IN THE 

Indian. He indignantly refused it, and 
shouted again — indeed, he screamed^ " This 
be Indian hunting ground ; white man no 
business here !" " We come as friends," 
said I. " We have no weapons, you see ; we 
only wish to teach what is good : if you 
are displeased with our being here, we 
can go elsewhere. But just let us sit down 
and have a little friendly talk about the mat- 
ter, so that when we part we may part as 
brothers." All this time I was holding out 
my hand, and at last took hold of his, 
and was gently drawing him towards our 
seat. The terms " friend" and " brother" his 
ear had caught, and he said, " You my friend! 
then you shall drink with me," and at once 
he drew out, and presented the bottle. We 
declined. He urged. We refused, and said, 
"No — whiskey bad, very bad." " Whiskey 
bad ? Whiskey bad, eh ?" responded he ; 
and then put it to his own mouth and turn- 
ed it up, and drained it. " Whiskey good," 
he says. "Ha! ah! — Indian say, Whiskey 
good." "No!" said we, "whiskey no good!" 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 159 

" Whiskey no good ?" he answered, " then 
what for white men bring it to the Indian's 
country ? White men make it, white men 
bring it, and white men sell it to Indian." 

"They are not good white men," we an- 
swered, " they no love the Indian, they only 
love the Indian's money. We love the In- 
dian, and we say the laws of the Creek na- 
tion to keep whiskey out of the country, 
are good laws." " Ah !" said he, " that be 
true, whiskey seller no love Indian, but love 
Indian's money. But what for you say 
whiskey bad ?" " Why, because it makes 
the person that drinks it different from him- 
self, takes away his senses, makes him un- 
kind, sometimes makes him feel like fighting 
everybody; and it makes him poor: and 
besides, the Bible says that drunkards shall 
not inherit the kingdom of God." 

By this time he had quieted down con- 
siderably, and was seated beside us, my 
hand laid on his shoulder, and his hand 
on my knee, and we looking pleasantly into 
each other's faces. By this time also the 



116^ SCENES IN THE 

frightened women and children had begun 
to come forth from their hiding places, and 
to gather around us. The Indian had caught 
at my last statement. Said he, " You say, 'No 
drunkard can enter the kingdom of God/ 
Suppose Indian drink whiskey, he not go 
to heaven, eh ! But I have been to heaven 
already ; it was just the other night. Let 
me tell you about it." And now his face 
brightened up, and he seemed all changed 
from the fierce, frothing, scolding, creature 
of a few minutes before. 

We listened to his story. He proceeds, 
" The other night I was lying on my back, 
and looking up into the skies — looking up, 
up, up beyond the stars ; and I saw far away 
in the blue sky an opening, and within the 
chamber all was bright, shining bright. I 
wished for some way to get up there, but 
could find none. Presently a long — a mighty 
long ladder was let down through the trap 
door — let down till it touched the ground. 
Nobody saw it but me, and I scrambled to 
get on it, and climb up. When I had climbed 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 161 

up there, and looked in, I saw heaps of peo- 
ple; oh, such heaps of people ! And I called 
out and says, ' Where's your king?' But then 
I began to be afraid, and — well I can't tell 
you much more about it." 

" Oh, my friend," said I, " that was only a 
dream ; and when you began to be afraid 
you were waking up. But listen while we 
tell you something about that place — some- 
thing that is not a dream, but solid truth ; 
we will read it in God's own word, and you 
may depend upon it." 

"Ah," said he, " yes, you white men have 
the books ; we red men took the bow and 
arrow, and so we have to listen to you whea. 
we want to learn anything." Then we went 
on reading and discoursing about heaven, 
and the one only way to get there, the inter- 
preter translating it to the audience; the In- 
dian interrupting every little while. We 
made out quite a discourse ; all the people 
listening eagerly. 

Then we turned to the Indian, and said, 
" And now, wouldn't you like to have us 

14* 



162 SCENES IN THE 

sing about that happy land, far, far away ?" 
With some hesitation he assented. After 
singing, we again asked, " And now, would 
you like to have prayer offered for us all, that 
we may be made meet for that place of pur- 
ity and bliss ?" He hesitated; but we waited 
for his answer. At length he complied, and 
arose with us in prayer. After prayer we 
shook hands around ; then, taking the In- 
dian's hand the second time, we said, "You 
would like to have us come again, wouldn't 
you ? Shall we set a time ?" He did not an- 
swer, and we repeated the question. Final- 
ly he said, "Yes, come;" but, still he wished 
us to bear in mind that all that country was 
the Indian's hunting ground, and that the 
white men were there only by permission, 
and whenever the Indians pleased they could 
expel them. 

During the conversation he betrayed that 
feeling which is common with many of the 
older people of the nation in opposition to 
Christianity — a jealousy in respect to the in- 
fluence of the schools, and the preaching of 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 163 

the gospel, lest it might at length subvert 
their owq religion and customs. They 
could see already that a change had com- 
menced, and was going on. In some of the 
clans it was becoming difTicultto keep up their 
feasts, and heathen ceremonies; the old peo- 
ple, or some of them, might still get toge- 
ther, but there were not enough of the young 
people to carry on the games ; and such was 
the case in this same Tulsey-town. Their 
busk house was going to ruins ; the danc- 
ing ground was grown over with weeds, and 
the pole that stood in the centre was fallen 
down. 

THE COMMONS. 

The inhabitants of this town have a com- 
mon field. Each family is expected to do 
its share of fencing, ploughing, planting, and 
tending. Each family has its own crib, and 
these cribs are scattered about over the 
field. 

The bottom land on which the village and 
field are situated is subject to overflow; and 



164 SCENES IN THE 

it sometimes occurs that the inhabitants are 
driven from their houses, and their crops 
destroyed. 

These facts we learned by observation, and 
in conversation with the interpreter, as we 
were passing out of the town ; for the day 
was drawing towards a close, and it was ne- 
cessary for us to hasten home; and for our 
health we ought to have started earlier. On 
the way we met a few persons, and had a 
few moments' conversation with them. One 
of these, a negro, told us of the preaching 
they had in a cabin in the woods, by a co- 
loured man. For himself he hoped he was 
" travelling towards Canaan." 

THE POOR LONE WIDOW. 

Farther on we saw an old log hut off from 
the road. We turned aside to it. A well 
cultivated garden was near it. The dirt 
and sticks were carefully swept away from 
the door. An elderly negro woman came to 
the door as we rode up. She was plainly 
dressed, but very clean : a number of small 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 165 

black cliildren followed her. She seemed 
to be visiting there, and was taking care of 
the little ones while their parents were away 
at work. 

Without alighting, we began talking at 
once on the great concern, and found her ready 
to converse with us. We asked, " Do you 
love to hear the Scriptures read?" "The 
what, sar? I guess we never heard of 
them." "Well, the Bible, you love the Bi- 
ble, don't you ?" " The Bible! yes, now I 
understand ; sartin me love de Bible ; but 
me can't read, mas'r. 

" You love to pray too, don't you ?" " Oh 
yes, yes; me love prayer: I don't know 
what a poor soul like me could do without 
prayer — so many troubles as comes on me 
— my children all scatter from me ; some to 
Texas, some down river, and some I don't 
know where ; and I can't find none on 'em any 
more. Oh, me's a poor widder — a poor lone 
critter in this worl' any how ; may the good 
Lord be merciful : for there's no hope on 
anything in dis worl'." While she was 



166 SCENES IN THE 

saying this, the tears were streaming faster 
and faster down her sable cheeks. It was a 
satisfaction to be able to speak to her about 
the widow's God, who says, " Leave thy fa- 
therless children, I will preserve them alive; 
and let thy widows trust in me." 

We will not soon forget how heartily, and 
over again, she thanked us for condescending 
to talk to one poor old black woman, all 
friendless and alone in the world : and we 
will not forget that scene ; the good woman 
wiping the fast falling tears on her check 
apron, and speaking alternately of the sor- 
rows of this life and the joys of the next ; 
bewailing the afflictions which seemed to 
have crowded upon her as one born unto 
trouble, and expressing her fears lest her 
future state might be worse than this. She 
said, " Many times me thinks I's on the 
right road ; and many times me's afeard I's 
got astray agin. Oh, may de Lord be 
merciful — that's all my hope." 

I intimated that we had not started home- 
ward early enough. This was apparent 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 167 

on the following day. A rough trotting 
pony, too much talking, sitting too much in 
the open air with a damp and chilly South- 
east wind blowing on me, brought on, or 
hastened another attack of chill and fever, 
more violent. than anything I had ever ex- 
perienced before. 

DISCUSSION WITH A MEKKO. 

This was a morning in the beginning of 
winter, white frost lay about upon every- 
thing, but a warm sun was beginning to 
climb up the eastern sky when we started, 
with the African interpreter, for a day of 
visiting in the neighborhood of the Kowetah 
Busk House. There was quite a settlement 
here ; it was within convenient distance of the 
Mission, and we longed for the privilege 
of preaching there statedly ; but hitherto 
every effort of the kind had been repulsed. 

We rode directly to the house of the 
Mekko, or town chief, thinking there might 
be a bare possibility of getting into his 
favourable regards. He seemed to have some 



168 SCENES IN THE 

of the good things of this world around 
him ; large corn fields, and cattle pens. He 
had a tolerably comfortable log house with 
a porch along in front, and he was at work 
upon another : they were " daubing " it ; 
that is, they were gathering handfulls of 
mud, which was prepared in a pit near by, 
and with force they were throwing it into 
the chinks between the logs, then smoothing 
it with the hands instead of a trowel. In 
the same way were they plastering the 
chimney, which, with the fireplace, was all 
outside of the house : the fireplace was of 
logs : the upper part of the chimney of 
sticks : the whole was thickly daubed with- 
in and without. 

We began with conversation on general 
subjects, and he was sociable, still keeping 
at his work. He could not speak or under- 
stand English, therefore our conversation 
was all through the interpreter. We talked 
on ; but still found no place for an easy 
transition to religious discourse, and so we 
said right out, " This would be a pleasant 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 169 

place to liave preaching: wouldn't you like 
to have meeting here, or somewhere in the 
neighbourhood occasionally on the Sabbath 
or on a week day evening?" This roused 
him. He threw down the mud which he 
had just taken in his hands, and turned and 
looked upon us, especially eyeing the in- 
terpreter who quailed before his steady gaze, 
and he said, " While we were yet in Georgia, 
and the government agents were trying to 
get us away, they told us that if we remained 
there, the whiles would settle all around us, 
and would crowd in amongst us, and by 
little and little they would teach our people 
their customs and their laws, and ours 
would gradually go from us. But, go west, 
said they, — far away beyond the settlements, 
and you may be by yourselves always, 
without any fear of intrusion : and we be- 
lieved their talk, and came west, even away 
here west of Arkansaw, and now you are 
on after us again." 

" No, sir," we said, " we are not on after 
you to interfere with any of your rights and 

15 



170 SCENES TN THE 

privileges as a nation, nor to interfere in 
any of your political affairs. As teachers in 
the schools, we serve the people ; the schools 
are open every day for the inspection of any 
person in the nation ; and frequently the 
Chiefs, or the Trustees whom they have ap- 
pointed, are called together to examine into 
all its operations, and they assure us they 
are perfectly well satisfied, and glad too, 
to have us continue in the work. As 
preachers, we are the humble servants of 
our Master, and in whatever part of the 
world we may be, we are bound to be 
faithful to him ; and he requires us to pub- 
lish his gospel to all people, exhorting men 
to repent, to cease to do evil and learn to do 
well. .Jesus, when on the earth, did not in- 
terfere with the strictly political affairs of 
the nations ; his apostles did not, and his 
ministers now ought not. We have enough 
to do to keep at our proper work of preach- 
ing the gospel, and in this we harm nobody, but 
benefit everybody; for the gospel is designed 
for all, and to all it is a message of peace 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 171 

and good will." "Ah, but," says he, ''our 
customs, our busks, dancing, ball-plays, 
races, drinking, card-playing, and such things; 
if you come here to preach, will you preach 
that they are all right? or will you even 
promise to say nothing at all about them, 
one way or the other ?" We answered that 
if we preach we must follow the Bible, and 
whatever sins it denounced we must also de- 
nounce ; and so far as any practices are con- 
trary to God's commandments we must, of 
course, expose them, and exhort the people 
to forsake them. There are some things which 
are wrong in themselves, and at any time ; 
and some things may be done on a week day, 
but not on the Sabbath. All games on the 
Sabbath are wrong, and some things in some 
of them are wicked at any time. It is never 
right to get drunk. " Ah, that is it," said 
he. " We like all these things ; our fathers 
taught them to us, and the Great Spirit taught 
the same to them. We are bound to per- 
petuate them, and we loish to perpetuate 



172 SCENES IN THE 

tliem; indeed we like them, and we mean to 
practise them." 

Then again he asked specifically, " You 
will preach against liquor, will you ? And 
do you say that it is a sin to drink whis- 
key ?" *' We say that it is wicked to get 
drunk," we answered, " and it is wrong to 
use any stimulant to such a degree as to be- 
come unnaturally excited. It is wrong to 
entice others to drink ; it is dangerous to 
cultivate a taste for strong drink; and any 
person that is too fond of it, and is liable to 
become intoxicated by it, had better never 
touch it at all ; and in fact, as it very rarely 
does any good whatever, but generally does 
a great deal of harm, the safest and best way 
is not to touch it at all." 

" Well," said he, " I love whiskey; and I 
mean to drink it : and I love to get drunk ; 
and I intend to get drunk whenever I can 
afford it, and find it convenient." "Well, 
sir," I answered, " as your friend, I am 
bound to tell you what I believe is true." 
*' Well, and what is it?" " Why with that 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 173 

determination you will not expect to go to 
heaven, I suppose; for the Bible says that 
* no drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of 
God.' " " But," he rcvsponded, " how do you 
know that there is any such place as hea- 
ven ? lias any body been up there, and come 
down again to tell it ?" We replied that 
Jesus Christ the Son of God came down 
from heaven to teach us about it, and that 
God in both the Old and New Testament 
had instructed mankind very plainly in re- 
spect to heaven, and the way to secure an 
eternal rest there. And now he asked, "And 
how do you know there ever was such a per- 
son as Jesus Christ ? Did you ever see 
him ?" 

"No, I never saw him; nor did I ever 
see General Washington, nor General Jack- 
son, nor was I ever in Georgia. But I be- 
lieve there is such a state as Georgia, because 
the geographies and histories speak of them ; 
and there are many incidental allusions to 
it in books and newspapers, and I have seen 
people that profess to have lived in Georgia. 

15* 



174 SCENES IN THE 

I believe there were such men as Washing- 
ton and Jackson, though I never saw them ; 
for there were men who did see them, and 
we have their testimon}^ ; history records 
their deeds ; we have the letters they wrote, 
and the speeches they made ; in books and 
newspapers there are innumerable allusions 
to them ; and any person that should rise 
up now and say there never was such a man 
as Washington or Jackson, would be taken 
for a fool or a madman. Now precisely 
such testimony have we that there was such 
a person as Jesus Christ, and that what the 
New Testament says of him is true ; and 
it testifies that he performed miracles, 
and that those miracles were to prove that 
he was the Son of God, and came down from 
heaven." 

" Well," said he, " I can't read, and I don't 
know anything about the Bible, but some 
of your own white men tell me that it's only 
a ' pack of lies.' " " Yes," I replied, " I know 
there are some who say it, and that is ano- 
ther evidence that the Bible is true, for it 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 175 

tells us that there will be scoffers ; and it 
tells us that there will be those that deny 
the truth, and even say that there is no God; 
it says that before conversion all people dis- 
like holiness, and hate the light ; and you 
see that we find that it is just so. If there 
were no scoflfers, the Bible wouldn't have spo- 
ken truly. And now, sir, can you tell us 
why it is that wicked men dislike the Bible 
so ; and only the Bible? Why do they not 
make war upon other books?" To this he 
made no reply, but after studying a minute 
he asked, " Well then, are there two Gods, 
or are there different Bibles?" "No, but 
one God, and but one Bible," we replied. 
" Then how is it," he inquired ; " how is it 
that there are so many different kinds of 
Christians, such as Baptists, Methodists, and 
Presbyterians? Why do you differ, why are 
you not just alike, if you have but the one 
book to go by ?" " We answered him, that 
all the Christian sects that we regard as the 
Church of Christ, hold the main doctrines of 
the Bible in the same way ; they disagree in 



178 SCENES IN THE 

whom we had the discussion in the morning. 
It stood alone amidst the rank grass and 
scattered trees of the oak openings. No 
fields were near, nor even a cow pen. A 
pony was tied to a tree, saddled and bridled 
rather gaily ; and his master stood by his 
cabin door, dressed in pants and calico shirt, 
ditto hunting shirt which had a broad collar 
or cape, and fringed all around with red ; 
a patent leather belt with brass buckle ; a 
palm leaf hat over his shining black locks, 
which had just been wet and combed, hung 
about his shoulders ; and spurs, with long 
gaffs, strapped to his heels. 

Seeing him ready to start for some gather- 
ing over the river, as he said, we did not 
alight, but after the usual salutation told him 
what was the especial business we were out 
upon that day ; and that we were unwilling 
to pass by any one without at least one 
word, and we hoped he would not take it 
unkindly, nor think us meddling with what 
was not our business, if we inquired what 
were his religious sentiments. 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 179 

He understood wlio we were, and wishing 
to dismiss at once an unpleasant subject, 
with a tone of impatience and a countenance 
charged with somewhat of bitterness, he an- 
swered, " When we left the old country it 
was with the assurance that if we would 
come to the new reservation, we should 
never be interfered with in any way, but 
that we should have our laws, and our 
ancient customs." 

When he had proceeded thus far, we in- 
formed him that we had been over the whole 
of that ground in the morning with his 
father-in-law, and neither of us seemed to 
have time to discuss the subject thoroughly 
that day, and we would not hinder him if 
he was anxious to be upon the road, further 
than to ask if he thoug^ht that he was also 
travelling the road which leads to heaven. 
To this he promptly replied, "You teach 
that in order to get to heaven a person must 
leave off every sin." "Yes," we said, "we are 
commanded to forsake all unrighteousness. 
God is displeased with any neglect of his 



180 SCENES IN THE 

commandments, and his commandments are 
all good, and his law forbids even sinful 
thoughts, and evil desires ; and that person 
who is unwilling to give up his sins, even 
all of them, does not please God ; he show^ 
that he loves his sins more than he loves 
God, and of course he cannot go to heaven ; 
for God will not permit to dwell with him 
for ever, any that he is not pleased with ; 
and no person that still loves sin would feel 
comfortable in heaven, for there can be no 
sin there. 

"Then," he replied, "I can't keep any 
sin, you say, not the little ones ? I must 
turn short about, and reform in every re- 
spect, must I ?" " Yes," we said, " the terms 
of the Scriptures are, Eepent or perish, 
Turn or die. Turn ye, turn ye, for why 
will ye die?" " Well," he continued, "ac- 
cording to your reasoning, and according to 
what I have heard from other preachers, the 
little sins seem to be as much in the way of 
a person's getting to heaven as the big ones ; 
and one sin will send him to hell as surely 



INDIAN COUNTRT. 181 

as a hundred could. As for myself, there 
are some customs wbich your kind of people 
say are wrong, but which I like, and I 
don't intend to give them up ; and if I must 
be sent to hell for even a few sins, why then, 
for ought I see, I might as well take a full 
swing in all of them and enjoy myself as 
much as possible ; for with one sin I would 
be sent to hell, and with ten thousand sins 
I couldn't any more than go there." "Not 
quite right," we answered ; " for a man may 
be treasuring up wrath against the day of 
wrath : the greater the guilt, the greater the 
condemnation : at the judgment every one 
shall receive the things done in the body, 
according to that he hath done : the servant 
that knew not his lord's will, yet committed 
things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with 
few ; while he that knew, and did not, shall 
be beaten with many stripes. You seem to 
know what you ought to do, but are deter- 
mined not to do it. You say you like sin ; 
and certain sinful courses you say you 
are resolved to continue in. You doubt- 

16 



182 SCENES IN THE 

less suppose that there is no enjoyment 
in religion, but we can assure you that 
if you were to become a Christian you 
would then hate sin as much as you now 
love it, and you would find more pleasure 
in religious exercises than you have ever 
found in the pleasures of the world." He 
responded, " There are some practices which 
to me do not seem very bad, but which you 
say must be abandoned if one would get to 
heaven ; but I like them, and I intend to con- 
tinue in them ; and as I must go to hell any 
way, unless I leave off' every thing that is 
bad, why I may just as well enjoy myself 
the best I can." " Well," we said, " if you 
have deliberately made up your mind to 
continue in your present manner of life, 
which in some respects you yourself have 
acknowledged to be wrong, then so it must 
be. We have only to tell you what God's 
law requires, and how men may escape the 
wrath of God which is due to us for sin, and 
entreat men to be reconciled to God. It is 
for us only to say, Choose ye whom ye will 



INDIAN COUNTRY, 183 

serve, and it is left for them to do the choos- 
iag. We do not compel you, and God 
does not compel any person to become a 
Christian against his will. We have only to 
say : This is the strait and narrow path 
which leads to life, and that is the broad 
road which leads to death. You, as you 
say, have chosen the broad road ; and you 
know whither it leads, and you have your 
eyes open. Go on, then : you will soon 
come to the end of your earthly journey, 
and will find yourself where he that hath 
served the devil will receive his wages — 
the wages of sin is death. *Wo unto the 
wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the re- 
ward of his hands shall be given him.' Per- 
haps you have heard what the Bible says 
about a certain rich man who in his life- 
time received all his good things, and in 
hell lifted up his eyes, being in torment. 
Good bye." 

Before we had finished this short conver- 
sation he was beginning to look very seri- 
ous ; his eyes were riveted on the ground, 



184 SCENES IN THE 

and in that posture he was standing, still 
leaning against the door-post until we were 
out of sight. I never saw him afterwards. 

RETURNING HOME. 

We were moving homewards ; and when 
we had passed the boundaries of this neigh- 
bourhood, the interpreter, who had not felt 
really comfortable during all the day, now 
began to breathe more freely, and to sit eas- 
ier in his saddle. He had been running the 
gauntlet, almost, as he seemed to think, and 
now was feeling comparatively safe when he 
found himself beyond the enemies' border. 
Turning to him, I said, "So, this will have 
to do for this time." "For this time!" says 
he. " And what shall we have to do for the 
next time?" "Why," we answered, "we 
will have to go over the ground again, of 
course. You do not get a crop of corn by 
travelling over the ground just once, do 
you ? You grub it, then break it, then 
plough and plant it ; and how many times 
do you have to harrow and plough the field 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 185 

agaia while the corn is growing. And still 
again, if you are a good farmer, you go through 
the field, pulling up every cockle, burr, and 
every other weed ; and you wouldn't expect 
a spiritual harvest without labour in some 
measure corresponding with this, would 
you? 

" Well, I warn you, sir," he said, " I warn 
you that we will have these peoples all down 
upon us. These peoples about here are 
mighty rough when you get them up once ; 
and they be amazing prejudiced against reli- 
gion, for they say it will put a stop to all 
their frolics as soon as a majority of them 
becomes religious. I will tell you, sir, how 

they were mighty nigh to finishing Mr. 

who was here- before you came; and he went 
on to describe 



And became quite eloquent, as the remem- 
brance of the event, our present proximity 
to the place of the action, and the occurrences 

of this day all tended to revive in him that 
16* 



186 SCENES IN THE 

former feeling of alarm, and caused him to 
reflect how narrowly he then escaped. 

Said he, " We were riding home on a Sab- 
bath afternoon, for we had been to preaching 
away up the country ; and as we were pass- 
ing the square back yonder at the Busk- 
house, a parcel of fellows who were gathered 
there, and pretty smartly drunk, began yell- 
ing at and scolding us as soon as we came in 
sight, and while we were going by. They 
said, * What business you to come to In- 
dians' country to preach your notions? What 
business you to meddle with our sports ? 
What is it your concern how much whiskey 
we drink, or what games we have, or how 
we spend the Sunday ? We'll teach you — 
we'll run you out of the country. Go and 
preach to white men ; teach them to stop 
cheating, and drinking, and card playing, be- 
fore you come to reform the Indians.' And 
when we had got well on past them, one of 
the crowd picked up a club and raced after 
us on his pony, yelling and cursing, and 
rushed up to Mr. , and caught his bridle 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 187 

rein, and began to strike at him. Then I 
rode around and caught his pony by the bit, 

and Mr. improved his chance, and put 

the whip to his horse, and I saw no more of 
him till I got home. But then the fellow 
made at me, as though he would knock my 
brains out ; but somehow I knocked the 
club out of his hand, and while he was get- 
ting off to pick it up, I got away, and run 
for my life. And, sir, I don't like that sort 
of sport. I'm afraid of these peoples, sir. 
They know how to be mighty unpleasant if 
once they take a dislike to a man ; they can 
make his life very uncomfortable if they set 
out for it." "But," we replied, " don't you 
think the gospel can soften them? At any 
rate, hadn't we better give the field a thor- 
ough trial before we abandon it? There are 
none here so terrible as was Africaner, of 
whom we told you the other night at the 
monthly concert." " Ah sir," said he, " but 
it seems to me we have done our duty when 
we have once offered to them the waters of 
life, and they so positively turn to their bro- 



188 SCENES IN THE 

ken cisterns that can hold no water; and be- 
sides, this is not the first time they have been 
asked to the gospel feast, and it seems to me 

that after treating Mr. as they did, and 

after answering us as they did to-day, it is 
time to shake ofif the dust of our feet against 
them." 

WHERE OTHER INDIANS GO. 

With some of the Indians there appears 
to be a belief that the red men and the 
whites will have separate places assigned 
them after death; therefore not unfrequently 
when we ask a person where he expects to 
go when he dies, he will answer, quite un- 
concernedly, "Oh, where other Indians go, I 
suppose." 

We one day received this answer at two 
or three houses in succession. At one there 
was a mother with several children around 
her. She appeared as unconcerned for her- 
self, or for the spiritual interests of her chil- 
dren as it was possible for a person to be. 

She reckoned they would be about as well 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 189 

off in the next world as most Indians ; they 
would be found in the biggest crowd at any 
rate. Two neighbouring women that were 
present exhibited the same ignorance on re- 
ligious subjects, and utter indifference about 
the soul and its concerns. 

At another house was a tall gray-headed 
Indian — an old warrior. We said to him, 
"You have seen a good many summers; 
about how many do you think?" "I don't 
know ;" he answered. " What ! don't know 
how old you are?" "No." " Well, you must 
be pretty near the end of your journey, ac- 
cording to the common age of man ; and 
have you made all ready for leaving this 
world, and going to the other?" "That's 
not a matter that troubles me at all," he an- 
swered. " But you have some ideas about 
another state of being, haven't you ? Where 
do you expect to go ? or what do you sup- 
pose becomes of the spirit after death ?" 

" Oh," he said, " Tl] go where other In- 
dians do, I guess." 

There were in the Kowetah school *.wo 



190 SCENES IN 'THE 

little Indian boys, brothers, very nearly of 
a size. They kept by themselves a good 
deal ; their progress in learning to speak 
English was slow ; their Bible and Cate- 
chism lessons were not learned very thor- 
oughly. The duty of secret prayer was 
enjoined on all the children ; and some of 
the pupils, we have reason to believe, prac- 
tised it ; and a few there were that loved to 
pray in secret to our Father in heaven. But 
those two boys would never do it ; and once 
they gave their reasons to one of the other 
boys for not praying as the teachers instruct- 
ed them. They said that their parents had 
strictly charged them not to worship the 
white man's God, for none of their relatives 
Lad gone to the white man's heaven ; and 
unless they wished to be separated from 
their parents and kindred after death they 
should not learn the white man's religion, 
Dor pray to the white man's God. 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 191 

DIFFERENT DEGREES OF CIVILIZATION. 

You have doubtless remarked that there 
must be a great variety of character to be 
met with in that tribe of Indians, and a wide 
difference between individuals as to the de- 
gree of civilization to which they have ad- 
vanced. 

THE GENTLEMAN. 

Here, for example, was a man very gentle- 
manly in his appearance every way, in dress 
and in manners ; a man of education and in- 
telligence. He has often been to Washington 
on business for his nation. You may see 
him, a portly figure, on his stately horse, 
moving along majestically slow; never in 
that break-neck gallop of the wild Indians. 
He is the friend of Missions, attends reli- 
gious meetings, is the patron of the schools, 
and always present at the examinations, and 
meetings of the Board of Trustees. ( There 
is considerable Scotch blood running in his 
veins, they say.) His early education was 



192 SCENES IN THE 

attended to, his father having employed for 
him and for his brother, a private tutor; and 
thus he did for him, and for the Creek nation 
through him, an invaluable service — just 
what you who support the Mission schools 
amongst the Indians are now doing. That 
father prepared one man for usefulness; and 
see what he has done, and is still doing for 
the benefit of his people, in encouraging re- 
ligion, education, good morals, and general 
improvement ; but you are raising up scores 
of such who year after year are taking their 
places in several tribes; and being scattered 
about here and there, their influence, like 
leaven, will in time leaven the whole lump. 

ONE OF. A CLASS OPPOSED TO CIVILIZATION. 

We have given an example of one class ; 
let us bring forward one of another kind, 
that tall, broad shouldered, heavy limbed In- 
dian ; he is all Indian. In summer his dress 
is a shirt — a shirt, and nothing more ; ex- 
cept a hat sometimes. In winter he adds 
the buck-skin leggins, fitting tight — as tight 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 193 

as the skin ; with buck-skin moccasons, 
and a hunting shirt of some sort ; and, when 
it is very cold, a red blanket, which serves 
both for hood and shawl. 

He owns a little cabin, and one pony. He 
cannot talk English, and wouldn't learn it 
if he could. He communicates by signs; as, 
for example, he wishes to take a ride : but 
his pony, not being conscious of his master's 
plans, is out somewhere on the unfenced 
prairie, or somewhere in the thicket. Our 
Indian is in a hurry this time, or he wouldn't 
condescend to ask a pale face if he had seen 
his horse. And how does he ask? Why, with 
one hand he holds up and shakes a bridle ; 
this signifies he wants a horse's head to put 
in it. Next he wishes you to understand 
that tlie horse wore a bell about his neck; 
so he puts his clenched fist under his own 
chin, and moving it quickly to and fro says, 
" ting-a ling." If we have seen such a horse 
we throw out the arm in the direction to- 
wards which his head was turned when we saw 
him ; if not, then we simply shake the head. 

17 



194 SCENES IN THE 



THE BLOWERS. 



This Indian's wife was taken sick, but he 
would not call the white physician, nor send 
to the Mission for medicines. He calls a 
" blower," that is, a native doctor ; or per- 
haps a conjuror. A large kettle of roots and 
herbs is selected according to prescription, 
and boiled together ; but it has no efficacy 
till the breath of the blower has been infused 
into it. 

Perhaps he is called to the house, or per- 
haps the liquid is prepared and taken away 
to the blower, and it may be ten or fifteen 
miles distant. He takes a reed two or three 
feet long, and blows through it into the med- 
icine, and perhaps performs some other con- 
juration over it. Then the vessel is covered 
over tightly, lest the virtue should escape 
on the way home. This is given to the pa- 
tient in large doses ; she dies nevertheless. 
The corpse is kept till it can be kept no 
longer. Then it is put in the grave, and 
with it are buried the clothes, and a few ar- 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 195 

tides of common use to serve ber in the 
spirit land, or on the way thither. Over 
the grave he erects a hut. By the side of 
this very little hut he keeps a fire burning 
constantly for a number of days, lest the 
spirit of the deceased might suffer from cold 
during the time it is is still lingering here, or 
fluttering between these hunting grounds, 
and those far away where the Great Spirit 
dwells ; and lest she should suffer with hun- 
ger, food is placed beside the grave. 

DIFFERENT MODES OF BURIAL. 

Many bury as we do, with a coffin, and a 
head stone, or board for want of a stone 
tablet. Some, more wealthy, erect a tomb 
of masonry over the grave. Many form a 
low roof of boards over the grave. Some 
place the body in a hollow tree in a stand- 
ing posture, and close the aperture : and 
some lay the body on a platform elevated on 
poles. There are some of the old class of 
Indians who bury the dead, if it be one of 
the heads of the family, in the ground withia 



196 SCENES IN THE 

their own cabin ; then go away and construct 
a new dwelling for themselves, and shut up 
the old one. This will account for the 
deserted cabins that you now and then ob- 
serve, and which are going to decay, the 
weeds and bushes covering and almost con- 
cealing them, and the paths which led to 
them no more trodden. To others a new 
grave and a new house is given. In the ab- 
sence of a coffin the corpse is wrapped in a 
blanket. Ornaments and implements of 
war were formerly buried with the war- 
rior ; and the same custom still prevails 
with some. Some have told us of funerals 
which they remember, at which a favourite 
horse, and a favourite slave were killed, and 
sent along with their master on his journey 
to the country to which Indians were sup- 
posed to go. 

There are many isolated graves, and some 
congregations of the dead ; and these are 
places possessing some scenic beauty, but 
are especially remarkable for their solitude. 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 197 

DIFFUSIVE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION AND 
KNOWLEDGE. 

We have compared two men of a particular 
nation to show you what education and 
religion have done for those who were 
disposed to avail themselves of its elevating 
and refining influences. But we ought still 
further to say that there is not a person in 
the nation that has not to some extent been 
wrought upon by the influence exerted by 
Christianity and the schools, however much 
he may hate and talk against them. He 
has been greatly improved. This you ob- 
serve in his habitation, dress, food ; in his 
settled habits instead of being a rover with- 
out a home, and you see it in the laws of the 
nation. To be aware of the change noise- 
lessly and imperceptibly going on in a tribe 
where missionaries and teachers have been 
for some time at work, compare them with 
those that never had missionaries amongst 
them. Select the least cultivated specimen 
of the Creek nation, and put him beside one 

17 * 



198 SCENES IN THE 

of those bands of savages that now and then 
come on begging excursions amongst their 
brethren. The Creeks would be at no loss 
to find their man though he should become 
mixed up with the savages, and he himself 
would be ashamed of them. He has clothing 
more nearly approximating to what the 
whites wear than they ; he has more property 
than they ; he has some kind of a home, 
they have only camping grounds ; he can 
tell them a great deal that they had no con- 
ception of, and all at once he finds himself 
growing proud, and boasting of the know- 
ledge which has been learned from the 
people that possess the books. We look at 
him amongst the savages and we fancy (and 
it's not all fancy) that he looks better, that 
his appearance, the expression of his eye 
and of his lip, indicate some culture of the 
intellect more than any of the savages ex- 
hibit. But this is a man who has lived on 
the outskirts of his tribe, and has kept him- 
self as much as possible aloof from churches 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 199 

and schools; and yet you see that their in- 
fluence has reached him. 

A pebble cast into a lake produces a com- 
motion in the entire body of water. One 
drop influences its neighbour. One particle 
set in motion disturbs the particles lying 
next it. First there is a ripple, then another, 
then another ; each circle taking a greater 
width and circumference. 

So whenever you cast a pebble of know- 
ledge into the minds of any nation, the 
waves of its influence will multiply and en- 
large till every individual, in some measure, 
feels its force. 

MINGLED EACES. 

The character presented awhile ago, as an 
example of the better class of the men of 
this tribe, we intimated, had the blood of the 
whites in his veins. From this we would 
not have you infer that those with this 
mixture were sure to be more friendly to 
improvement, or that they were themselves 
more susceptible of improvement than the 



SOO SCENES IN THE 

pure red man. Good and bad, intelligent 
and stupid, moral and vicious white men 
have intermarried with the Indian, and ac- 
cording to their character so has been the 
impression that they have made upon their 
neighbourhood ; and in their children have 
been repeated the parents' character and 
habits. 

The Indians that have lived in the south- 
ern states have become more or less mixed 
with the negro race ; and those who form 
this element, are fully equal in sprightliness, 
enterprise, and energy to any of the pure 
race. 

That you may make your own observa- 
tions on this and other matters, suppose 
you come with us while we travel a little 
about the country. 

A request has been sent to the Mission 
from a white man, begging us to visit him, 
for he is sick, and he wishes us to come 
soon. 

As we ride along you inquire. How hap- 
pens it that white men get mixed up with 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 201 

the Indians? And we answer, They have 
found their way here from different causes. 
Some of them are discharged soldiers, whose 
ties to kindred and home have been much 
worn, if not entirely broken off; and they 
would about as lief marry an Indian woman 
and settle in the country, as to go back to 
the States where the people and the customs 
of the people are more strange to them than 
those of the Indian ; and moreover, they fan- 
cy that they would much prefer the larger 
liberty of the Territories, to the more exact- 
ing rules of society in the States. Some 
came here as traders, took an Indian woman, 
2J0ssibl2/ intending to cast her off when they 
should get rich enough to retire. But either 
they have not yet become sufficiently rich, 
or else they have come to like the Indian 
country and the Indian customs ; and, more 
than that a swarm of black eyed boys and 
girls has sprung up around them ; and they 
have farms and herds, which also are yearly 
increasing; and furthermore the people be- 
gin to look up to them ; they are acquiring 



202 SCENES IN THE 

an influence, and have gained a position 
whicli they would not have anywhere else; 
and if they leave the country they must also 
leave wife and children, lands and cattle. 
Some came to the country as mechanics un- 
der the auspices of the United States gov- 
ernment, and they too have concluded to be- 
come citizens of the nation ; so they marry, 
or *' take up with a woman," and this act 
effects their naturalization. 

But we have arrived at the place which 
we were requested to visit, and we find a 
man greatly 

ALARMED AT THE PROSPECT OF DEATH. 

You will notice, though you do not speak 
of it, that he has a large corn field, but that 
he would have had more corn had he been 
less indulgent towards the weeds. There is 
something wrong in the management of this 
establishment, you say to yourself, for the 
house is old but not a shade tree, nor an orna- 
mental tree or shrub is about the premises: 
sad evidence of want of taste in her who pre- 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 203 

sides within, and lack of annbition and in- 
dustry in him who manages without. 

The house is what is termed a double log 
cabin ; that is, two square cabins with a 
space between, and one roof extending over 
all ; the space between serving many pur- 
poses. It is cool and airy in the summer ; 
a place in which to sit during the day, or to 
sleep at night. 

Each cabin has one room, and that room, 
in this instance, is very small; and the fowls 
and little pigs dispute the right of the fam- 
ily to these quarters. Doves (quite too much 
domesticated) are flying, and hopping, and 
walking about everywhere within the house, 
and resting on the sticks overhead. 

The man lies on a straw bed (the linen 
not so white as the snow flakes) on the floor 
in the corner. He is indeed very sick ; but 
he seems to be suffering in mind as much as 
in body. He turns from side to side and 
groans. Oh ! 0-o-o-h ! He trembles, and 
groans. Conscience is busy with him. We 
endeavour to ascertain the precise state of 



204 SCENES IN THE 

his mind, the specific cause of his alarm ; 
but he will not let us into his bosom ; he 
merely says, in general, that he has been a 
very great sinner ; and only wishes, as you 
perceive, some general applications. He 
shrinks from close questioning; there is evi- 
dently something in his heart which he in- 
tends you shall not see ; he merely wishes 
you to read the Scriptures and pray. You 
comply with his request, and with that he 
is satisfied for this time ; but he is afraid he 
may die, therefore he asks you to come again 
to-morrow. And to-morrow you come as 
he requested, but the patient is easier — eas- 
ier every way ; he doesn't groan as he did 
yesterday ; and is still more averse to an ex- 
amination of his case, and answers questions 
very reluctantly. Your conversation seems 
less grateful to him than it did yesterday. 
He begins to think that he will not die this 
time, therefore he will not need your services 
on the following day ; nor does he offer any 
thanks for your trouble and suffering in rid- 
ing so far in the sun. 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 205 

As you are curious, you cast your eyes 
around to see what comforts the sick man 
has. On the floor by the side of the bed is 
a rusty tin cup half full of water. There are 
bits of cold corn cake on -the shelf, and 
" strong" pork fried in its own fat. The 
sick man has no desire for these ; but there 
is a pot of sofky^ and though the odor of it 
is any thing but pleasant to you, the sick 
man sips it, for it is sour and grateful to his 
fever-coated tongue. 

You sum up your observations, and con- 
clude, that though those who are used to 
such a mode of living, and to such kind of 
nursing may like it well enough, yet for 
yourself you will not become a citizen of 
the country on these terms. 

SOFKY. 

We stated that the patient relished his 
sofky. It is a national dish with these In- 
dians, as much as hommony and succotash 
have been with other tribes. It is made of 

corn which has been bruised in a large wood- 
is 



206 SCENES IN THE 

en mortar with a wooden pestle, its hull 
loosened and blown away in a fan. It is 
boiled in weak lye, then set aside till it be- 
comes fermented and sour, and then is eaten 
with a spoon. 

That person is no favourite with the In- 
dians that doesn't relish sofky. Perhaps 
they fancy he is proud if he can't eat such 
things as they do. They don't hesitate to 
predict respecting the person that can't eat 
sofky, that he will not remain long in the 
country. 

Their large hommony — hulled corn boiled 
soft — you would probably like at once. 

Other houses we could take you to, where 
you would find things quite different from 
what they were in the house last visited. The 
husband is a white man, the wife an Indian. 
They all use the English language. Here 
you find many comforts and conveniences 
in and about the house, and all is clean ; the 
children comfortably dressed and clean, with 
well combed hair ; yet with rings and orna- 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 207 

ments more profuse than seem to be re- 
quired. 

And we might take you on to another house 
where a native lady presides, where there is 
an approach to elegance. 

There are cases in which white women 
have become the wives of Indian men ; but 
such cases are not common. 

We will speak of one such 

WHITE WIFE. 

Her husband is a prophet, we believe. 
She, if we remember, is of the Hibernian 
race. We will be able to tell you how she 
appears when at home, and when she takes 
her walks abroad, as we have seen her in 
both conditions. When seen abroad it was 
her fashion not to wear any head-dress, ex- 
cept that which nature gave ; and even that 
a good deal crisped by the sun, and faded 
from its bright original red. For dress she 
wore a faded and tattered gown. One child 
at the breast, and one or two crying at her 
heels ; and as poorly clad as their mother. 



208 SCENES IN THE 

We never saw her at home but once. It 
was on a Sabbath morning, and along to- 
wards the middle of the forenoon. I was 
riding to my appointment. It had been a 
warm night, and none of the human inhab- 
itants of that house had yet risen from their 
slumbers. Their beds were outside and be- 
fore the cabin, on the ground in the dry 
dust, which the hogs, that had been up a 
long time, were rooting about and blowing 
over them. For bedding the lord had the 
remnants of an old buffalo robe, the lady had 
a ragged blanket. 

It might seem a pity to disturb the happy 
pair ; but I had missed my way, and they 
were able to put me right. 

Sleeping out of doors is not an uncommon 
practice in the summer, but it is usually in 
a more genteel manner than as above de- 
scribed; not with the pigs in the dirt, but 
on a staging elevated above the ground to 
keep the sleeper above the reach of snakes 
and other vermin. It is not uncommon to 
see about an Indian dwelling several such 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 209 

Stagings under the trees; they are two or 
three feet from the ground, and long and 
broad enough for a man to stretch himself 
on comfortably. Here they nap at noon, 
and sleep at night ; while the tree defends 
them from the sun by day, and from the dew- 
by night. 

DRUNKARDS OF EPHRAIM. 

In preceding pages we have alluded to 
the mischief which whiskey caused in the 
nation. The Indians generally, we believe, 
are rather proverbial for their love of strong 
drink. A writer long ago laboured hard in 
trying to prove that the aboriginal tribes of 
North America were descendants of the lost 
Ten Tribes of Israel ; and one of the argu- 
ments which he used was that the Indian 
seems to have an innate love for intoxicat- 
ing drink. This, he argues, is a reason for 
supposing that they may be descendants of 
Ephraim — the drunkards of Ephraim. 

18* 



210 SCENES IN THE 

PEOHIBITORY LAWS. 

The Creeks have at different times exerted 
themselves laudably to save their Datiou 
from the ravages of this scourge, which is 
amongst the worst enemies of the red man, 
and which is one of the evils introduced by 
the white man. 

The council enacted laws forbidding all 
trade in intoxicating drinks, and providing 
for the unconditional destruction of all that 
should at any time be found anywhere with- 
in the boundaries of their Territory. 

That which aroused the chiefs to action 
in this matter was the murder of a daughter 
of the principal chief by a drunken Indian ; 
who, without any provocation, as he was rid- 
ing past the chief's house in broad daylight, 
drew up his rifle and deliberately shot the 
young woman as she was standing in the 
door. 

By order of the council a company of po- 
lice was formed, called the Light Horse ; whose 
duty it was to ride throughout the country. 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 211 

hunting up and spilling all the liquor that 
could be found; and to collect fines from 
those who were in any way engaged in 
the business of buying, or selling, or carry- 
ing it. 

For a time the law was rigidly enforced ; 
but by degrees the chiefs became less watch- 
ful, the police became less active, and then 
the contraband dealers grew more bold^ and 
drunkenness again became common. 

SMUGGLERS. 

There were wicked white men who would 
smuggle whiskey into the country, or would 
aid the Indians in doing it. It was brought 
in with other lading of steamboats, landed 
in the night, and carried away and hid in the 
bushes. The boats trading up and down 
the rivers, and ascending far up those rivers, 
often dealt out the fire water. Also on the 
borders of the Indian Territory, in the States 
of Arkansas and Missouri, there were men 
always lurking, who had fire water for the 
Indian ; for which they took in exchange 



212 SCENES IN THE 

his money, or whatever article of value he 
would part with. When a barrel or smaller 
quantity of this contraband article had been 
purchased, it was hurried into the woods 
and cunningly secreted ; and the fact was 
immmediately communicated to those who 
were known to love the article, and who 
would not divulge the secret. 

Others would travel over the country to 
the borders of the States, and having pur- 
chased a couple of kegs, or large jugs, filled 
with this their darling beverage, they slung 
them over the back of the pony, and then 
they journeyed homewards. We once encoun- 
tered on the prairie a small caravan of such 
traders. They had been met by a company 
of their drinking friends, and a pair of 
quarter barrels had been taken down and 
broached ; and they seemed to be having 
what they would call " a good time " over 
them. 

"When a jug of whiskey has been brought 
clandestinely into a neighbourhood, certain 
of the whiskey-loving people soon gather 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 213 

around it, and stay by it till the jug is 
empty ; and on such occasions they are apt 
to have a pretty crazy time. 

MORNING AFTER A DEBAUCH. 

Wishing as far as possible to become ac- 
quainted with the people, and to visit every 
house, at least every house that was within a 
half day's ride of the Mission ; one morning, 
as soon as we could be spared, we started 
out, but without an interpreter. Striking 
off into an unfrequented road which led 
along through the skirts of the forest, where 
the prairie and timber land meet and mingle, 
we came upon a cornfield, but there was no 
habitation in sight. Following the fence 
around, we found a place where was the 
"gap," and a path leading towards the 
middle of the field. Through this gap, and 
up the road we travelled, conjecturing how 
many wolfish dogs the man might keep, 
and how they would be likely to receive a 
stranger. 

In the centre of the field we found the 



214 SCENES IN THE 

cabin with a melon patch and vegetable 
garden near it. Several dogs sprang up 
and rushed forward to challenge us. A 
number of hungry looking ponies were tied 
to stakes and trees about the premises. We 
knocked at the door, but had to repeat the 
ceremony several times before we were in- 
vited in. Upon entering we found eight or 
ten Indians ; some stretched at full length 
upon the floor, and paying very little atten- 
tion to the intruder : some were sitting on 
the floor. Some looked ashamed, some in- 
different, and some appeared as though 
they were angry at being disturbed. Two 
earthen jugs without corks were rolling 
about the floor. There was one woman in 
the cabin, a poor forlorn creature, skulking 
from corner to corner, having that quick 
sneaking motion of the eye, and that dodg- 
ing habit of the head, which are acquired by 
those who are accustomed to be unexpect- 
edly assailed by sharp words, and by cuffs 
and cudgelling. 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 215 

THE WAY OF TRANSGRESSORS HARD. 

Dealers in whiskey by and by became more 
bare-faced, outraging the feelings of all de- 
cent people : one such case we will mention. 
An old worn out and condemned steamboat 
had been purchased by some of that class 
of persons who, by their abominable deeds, 
make us ashamed of our white skin, and 
cause us to blush for our human nature. 
At some point below they had loaded with 
whiskey, nothing but whiskey ; and steamed 
on away up towards the head of navigation. 
How much mischief they had done before 
they reached us we do not know ; but with 
many barrels still on board, they came up 
the silent Verdigris, determined to remain 
till their cargo should be disposed off. They 
tied up their boat, and put out their fires — 
the fires of the furnaces they put out, but 
other fires they kindled, such as are set on 
fire of hell. They sold by the barrel, and 
by the jug and the bottle full ; and they sold 
by the single drink. The poor Indians 



216 SCENES IN THE 

might be seen lying about on the banks of 
the river, and on the decks of the vessel 
dead drunk. 

But, by some means, an account of all this 
found its way to Yan Buren, where the 
Superintendent of Indian affairs resides ; 
and a party of men was dispatched to see to 
the business. The boat was seized, the 
whiskey barrels broken and their contents 
poured into the river, and all the men 
marched on foot from the mouth of the 
Yerdigris to Yan Buren ; in which journey 
they had an opportunity of learning that 
transgressors do sometimes have a hard road 
to travel. 

Recently the Creek council has reaffirmed 
the prohibitory laws. In recent letters from 
a former pupil of the Kowetah school, now 
the head of a family and engaged in farming 
and in merchandising in a small way, we 
have these statements, which we give in his 
own words. 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 217 



EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. 

" I suppose you would be very glad to 
hear our law prohibiting the introduction 
of ardent spirits into the nation is still en- 
forced, and it is executed by the Light Horse 
company appointed by the nation, whose 
duty it is to search, find, and spill all the 
spirituous liquors that may be found in 
their respective limits, and to collect a fine 
at the hands of the venders at the rate of 
four dollars per gallon for all liquors so 
spilled." 

" All fines so collected are used for the 
benefit of the Light Horse company." "I 
am rejoiced to say that our people are trying 
to do some good." " Christianity is still 
making progress. The word of God is 
spreading wider every year. We beg your 
prayers for assistance." "The people are 
generally very sober for the last three years, 
with a few exceptions." " There has been a 
great deal of sickness this fall, though not 
many deaths." 

19 



218 SCENES IN THE 

These extracts are given, partly that you 
may see what kind of scholars are made at 
those Mission schools, and what kind of 
citizens they are training for the nation. 
We wish we could spread one of the letters 
before you, that you might observe in what 
a clerkly manner it is written. 

BIG MEETINGS. 

Indians seem to be fond of great gather- 
ings. It used to appear that they felt 
more comfortable while sitting on a hewed 
log, or even on the bare ground under the 
trees, or under the booths made of green 
boughs which were supported on forked 
sticks, than on benches or chairs within 
walls which had doors and windows ; and 
some seemed to enjoy a meal more if they 
could take it while seated on the grass, and 
could drink water which was dipped with a 
gourd from a spring, instead of that which 
was drawn with a bucket from a cold well. 
They were fond of camp meetings ; and if 
there was to be a barbacue and free dinners, 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 219 

a great crowd might be expected. Mission- 
aries of other denominations in the country 
had a great many such meetings. Some of 
the Indians attending them spread for their 
families a canvas tent, others cut down 
branches of trees and constructed a booth, 
and others spread their blankets on the 
earth with only the sky for a covering. 

Doubtless many were brought within the 
sound of the gospel by these meetings, who 
would not come to more quiet places ; but 
" camping out" in all weather could not be 
favourable to the health of the missionaries, 
and in such crowds there were liable to 
be lewd fellows of the baser sort, who felt 
no responsibility to behave gravely ; and 
the grounds around the camp sometimes, 
we were told, witnessed conduct not be- 
coming the precincts of a place of wor- 
ship. 

UNLETTERED PREACHERS. 

During the time in which missionary la- 
bours were suppressed throughout the nation, 



220 SCENES IN THE 

there were still a few Indians, and a few 
black men who attempted to preach ; and 
from traditions respecting them it is to be 
feared that they did not perfectly elucidate 
every subject which they undertook to han- 
dle. For example, in a cabin where our pi- 
oneer missionary once stopped to beg the 
privilege of spreading his blanket on the 
floor for the night, when it became known 
that he was a preacher the old woman seem- 
ed rejoiced ; for she said she had a very im- 
portant question which she had been wait- 
ing a long time to have solved, but nobody 
in the country had learning enough to do it. 
And she proceeded: " My man here says that 
it was a plum which the woman took and 
gave to the man ; but I tell him that it was 
a grape which the man took and gave to the 
woman. Now, sir, who is right?" The mis- 
sionary said, "It was the woman that first 
took of i\iQ forhidden fruit and gave it to the 
man. We do not positively know what sort 
of fruit it was, but it was not more likely to 
have been a plum or a grape than an apple." 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 221 

"There it is," she says; "our own country 
preachers, without learning, do misguide 
us so. But when you that have learning 
come, and bring that big book itself along 
with you, then we may know that what we 
hear is true, and we may believe and not 
doubt." 

Some missionaries of other denominations 
still employ that same class of uneducated 
preachers, who are capable of being very 
useful, if set to work in their proper sphere, 
but when put to expounding the law they 
are altogether out of their place. One of 
this class was trying to preach one night at 
a camp ground not far from the Mission, 
and a white man, long resident in the coun- 
try, was there. He understood both English 
and Indian, and also remembered enough of 
Scripture to see when the preacher was go- 
ing astray. He gave a brief account of the 
sermon, a part of which we still recollect. 
The preacher undertook to give the sub- 
stance of the first portion of the first chapter 
of John's gospel, and then went on to state 

19* 



222 SCENES IN THE 

that John, the writer of that gospel, was 
John the Baptist; yes, John the Baptist, the 
very founder of their /Jhurch, and the same 
that used to go up and down the Jordan 
hunting the deep places to baptize people in. 

Our reporter remarked, that undoubtedly 
native preachers would be a good thing; but 
then he thought it would be "mighty con- 
venient like" for them to have a little learn- 
ing ; at least enough so that they might be 
able to read a few chapters in the Testament 
for themselves. He thought that the nation 
could afford to have fewer preachers, if those 
few were well furnished for their work. 

More haste makes less speed sometimes. 
Unqualified teachers, and preachers who 
have run before they were sent, do a great 
deal of " bad work," which costs their suc- 
cessors much trouble and patience to undo. 

The communion seasons of the Mission 
churches were always deeply interesting and 
solemn. Members of the church, whose 
homes were far off in different parts of the 
country, would gather into these services, 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 223 

often bringing friends with them, who were 
entertained at the Mission, or at the houses 
of their Christian brethren in the vicinity 
while the meetings continued. 

EXAMINATION DAY. 

The stated examinations of the schools 
were a sort of gala day for the pupils, when 
their parents and friends assembled at the 
Mission to see what prodigies their own 
children had become, (able to read the books 
equal to white people !) to hear their recita- 
tions, and witness their performances on the 
black board. 

It was a pleasure on those occasions to 
have the parents seated with their children 
at table; old and young enjoying themselves 
together. 

Our faithful coloured man was in his ele- 
ment at such times ; for he would be sorry 
to let the event pass off without a barbacue; 
and he " calculated" that few could excel 
him in that particular branch of cooking. 
On the previous day he dug a pit two or 



224 SCENES IN THE 

three feet deep, in which he started a fire 
and kept it up all night, rolling in more 
and heavier logs, until by morning the pit 
was apparently half full of live coals. 

Over this a staging of poles was built, 
and on it the ox was laid, having first been 
cut into convenient pieces ; and these had 
frequently to be turned, till at the appointed 
time it was ready to be served up, with 
some other things which the country af- 
forded. 

Next comes the parting, and the dispers- 
ing to their own homes. Indians, however, 
are not much given to complimenting, nor 
do they usually make so much ado at meet- 
ing and parting as some other people; and 
so some of the children may be on the road, 
before we are aware that they have left the 
house. It is surprising to see how heavy a 
load a horse can travel under. A -man or 
woman mounts a pony, and then the boys 
and girls get on before and behind as long 
as there is a place for them to sit. In some 
families there is a horse and trappings for 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 225 

each member of the household. One such 
family we particularly remember. They 
lived far up the country, were people of 
some means, and able to appear in pretty 
good style, for that part of the world, when 
they went abroad. The father, a portly man, 
rode a large horse; the mother, carrying an 
infant, followed on another large horse. 
Then came the children, quite a company, 
following in order accordingto their age and 
size, each having a horse or pony which 
seemed to have been selected with reference 
to size so as to suit that of its intended rider; 
so that the last of this little cavalcade was a 
very little boy, mounted on the smallest and 
prettiest pony that we ever saw in the In- 
dian country. 

THE COLD PLAGUE. 

Allusion has been made to the sudden 
deaths which occurred amongst the Indians, 
and also amongst any whites who, in the 
same climate, were not careful to provide 
against the changes of the weather. It was 



226 SCENES IN THE 

a common expression, "Heaps of people die 
here every winter." The pleurisy, pneu- 
monia, and fevers of different types took off" 
their victims suddenly. As sometimes oc- 
curred, you might meet a person one day in 
health, and three or four days afterwards in 
passing the house where he had lived, you 
might find his neighbours assembled to bury 
him. 

There was a fine lad in the Tallahassa 
school, a modest and obedient boy he was, 
always diligent in his task, whether it was 
study or work ; and when it was the time 
for play he was ready for it. Monday had 
been a warm sunny day, but towards night 
the wind blew down quite cold and search- 
ing from the north. This boy we observed 
a while before dark, at his appointed labour 
at the wood pile, making the chips fly fast. 
While resting now and then, as he leaned on 
his axe-helve the cold wind struck him, and 
there perhaps he took the cold which proved 
fatal. The next morning at the breakfast 
table we observed that he sat there without 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 227 

eating, and appeared to be "chilling a lit- 
tle," as we say of those who have slight at- 
tacks of chill and fever; that, however, was 
not an uncommon occurrence, and did not 
create alarm. During the day he kept his 
bed, though he complained but little, and 
but a few simple medicines were adminis- 
tered. In the night, however, his case ex- 
cited more interest, and early in the morning 
the physician was called ; but as soon as he 
saw him he shook his head, and said it was 
too late, he feared. Every effort was made, 
and every expedient iried to arrest the dis- 
ease, but in vain. He lived only to the 
middle of that afternoon. 

From the moment that his case became 
alarming, the Superintendent hardly left his 
bedside, and at every favourable moment he 
was giving useful instruction, but with what 
results will not be known in this world. 
Before his sickness he had always been 
serious and attentive in the place of religious 
worship, and he had received much instruc- 
tion and private admonition from the pastor, 



228 SCENES IN THE 

and from all the teachers; but concerning 
him we have no knowledge that he was pre- 
pared to die. 

God waits upon us a long time, and gives 
abundant opportunity to prepare for death : 
and lest we might be tempted to procrasti- 
nate, he has told us that the Son of man may 
come as a thief in the night; therefore he 
has charged us to watch, saying, " Watch 
therefore ; for ye know not what hour your 
Lord may come." 

The Indians suffered from such attacks as 
this, partly because of their want of care- 
fulness to dress according to the changes of 
the weather, and by their exposure at night. 
They would leave home with only their 
ordinary clothing, and that very slight ; a 
cotton shirt, and a thin hunting jacket ; 
with perhaps a blanket, or perhaps not. 
Some procured for the winter a " blanket 
coat." 

When away on the road they might sleep 
in a house, or out of doors ; with, or with- 
out a fire. When riding in the morning we 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 229 

sometimes passed the yet smoking brands 
of camp fires by the wayside. 

ECONOMICAL LODGINGS. 

One frosty morning — Thermometer at 
15° (it often went lower. Feb. 6th it was 
2°) we saw at a distance of half a mile or 
more, a smoke curling upwards into the 
skies, and we walked out to see who was 
there. We found one lone Indian in the act 
of " getting up ;" and he was rising like a 
man refreshed, as bright and cheerful as if he 
had slept on the softest bed. 

When he encamped he kindled a fire, and 
slept at right angles to it, with his feet 
pretty close to the coals. He chose the 
leeward side, so that the wind carrying the 
smoke over him, it would serve as a canopy, 
and the chilly niglit vapours would thus be 
prevented from falling on him. 

As is the custom, he had wrapped him- 
self entirely in his blanket, not excepting 
the head ; for by keeping the warm breath 
inside the blanket, it thus helps to keep the 

20 



SB'O SCENES IN THE 

body warm, they say. The stranger was 
clad ia buckskia leggins which terminated 
in a moccason, a hunting shirt, aud one 
blanket. A tin cup sat near him, out of 
which he drank quite frequently. A rough 
coated horse was tied to a fallen tree top, 
and was contentedly nibbling at the limbs, 
as though he had been accustomed to such 
breakfasts. 

Through the language of signs we ascer- 
tained that he had come from the south-east- 
ern extremity of the Territory, and was go- 
ing on to the old chief's residence. 

CHANGE OF WEATHER. 

We have alluded to the sudden changes 
of weather ; every country is subject to the 
same, yet not all to the same extent. 

Once in the fall of the year we had to re- 
turn to our station from the Tallahassa Mis- 
sion. The forenoon had been unseasonably 
warm ; what breeze there was came from the 
south. After dinner, when we started, it 
was sultry, and we feared to move the 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 231 

horses out of a walk. Both our coat and 
overcoat lay across the saddle. After tra- 
velling a quarter of the distance, it became 
comfortably cool and our horses felt brisker 
By and by we were inclined to button the 
vest ; there was no wind, but away in the 
north-west it was growing darkish. Now 
we needed a coat ; the horses struck into a 
trot: clouds began to form away to the north^ 
and to roll slowly towards the south. Our 
coats were now buttoned, and our horses 
moving faster; the clouds were growing 
larger, and approaching nearer; the storm 
was close upon us. Now overcoat and mit- 
tens were needed ; but soon it became so 
cold that we had to put our horses into a 
gallop to get exercise enough to keep from 
suffering. A lady in the company, who had 
not so good a supply of shawls as we had of 
coats, suffered more than we. 

In the winter in that country, however 
pleasant the morning might be, careful men 
would not venture far from home without 
an overcoat or blanket across their saddle. 



232 SCENES IN THE 

RECKLESS RIDING. 

The Indians are bold riders, but they 
sometimes meet with accidents. Of this 
there was a distressing instance once at Tal- 
lahassa. At that time there were several 
horses at the stable that needed to be water- 
ed, and a few of the larger boys leaped upon 
their backs. Some had bridles, and some 
only halters. Returning from the watering 
place, the horses began racing ; as is liable 
to be the case where several are together, 
and boys are their riders. Those without 
bits in their mouths could not be readily 
managed, and one of the young men, by the 
unexpected wheeling of his horse, had his 
head violently dashed against a tree which 
caused his death in a short time. So melan- 
choly a termination of what was usually a 
safe and pleasant exercise, cast a deep gloom 
over the school, and was the occasion of 
turning the thoughts of the pupils to the sub- 
ject of death, and the necessity of being al- 
ways in preparation for it. 













One of the young men, by the unexpected wheeling of his horse, 
had his head violently dashed against a tree. — F^e 232, 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 233 

At Kowetah once, when we were at sup- 
per — it was after dark — a black man hurried 
in, and in great haste inquired if either of 
us could do anything for broken bones, for 
" Peter," said he, " has broke his thigh ^^lump 
offy " How was that ?" we asked. " Why,'' 
he answered, " we had finished thrashing up 
thar, and were for starting home, and Pete 
jumped on that wild colt of his'n, and he run 
like mad, and slung him across a big oak 
stump in the road up thar, and it broke his 
thigh plump off, sir ; and he's in awful mis- 
ery." " Where is he now ?" we inquired. 
"Just out yer in the wagon," he said. We 
assured him that none of us dared undertake 
such a case as that, and he had better have 
the doctor, who lived at the other Mission, 
sent for immediately; and meantime the man 
might be brought into the house, and we 
would nurse him as well as we were able. 
But no, they both thought they would go 
right along to the mistress, and see what she 
thought best about it ; and if she said, Send 

for the white doctor, then they would do so. 
20 » 



234 SCENES IN THE 

They only called, they said, to see if perhaps 
we might have some medicine to stop the 
misery. So they carried him four miles fur- 
ther in a rough wagon and over a rougher 
road. The mistress, we learned, did not fa- 
vour sending for a white doctor; for being 
of that class of the Indians that are preju- 
diced against innovations, she believed the 
Indian's system of treatment better than the 
white man's. How he was treated we did 
not learn ; we would have visited him, but 
were informed that admittance would be de- 
nied us. We presume, however, that the 
limb was bandaged, and copiously bathed in 
liquids over which incantations had be^ii 
performed. 

Many have been crippled or killed in the 
races of drunken Indians over uneven 
ground, as well as in the pursuit of game. 

INDIAN DOCTORS. 

Amongst civilized people we sometimes 
hear of a great stir being made about some 
person that pretends to be an Indian doctor, 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 235 

or that pretends to have Indian medicines. 
But the Indians themselves know very little 
indeed about mediciues, or the nature of dis- 
eases. They have a few simple remedies, but 
are altogether incompetent to treat a difficult 
case. Where a cure has been effected, na- 
ture is generally the healer, and conjuration 
receives the credit of it. 

They know of a root which is good for a 
snake bite, and they have the pleurisy root, 
and others which are good for other diseases. 
But their principal dependence is upon the 
Blowers. Roots and herbs are gathered 
and boiled down to make a " black drink ;" 
but it has no efficacy till the doctor has 
given it a healing power by his own breath 
blown into it through a long tube, together 
with certain mummeries performed over it. 

In one of our visiting excursions we came 
upon a cabin in the woods, at ashort distance 
from which we encountered a curious struc- 
ture: it might be taken to be a receptacle 
for a dead body ; but we were told that it 
was a medicine house, to store medicines 



236 SCENES IN THE 

for gun-shot wounds, and that the owner of 
the cabin was a gun-shot doctor. It was a 
little log house about three feet by five, 
with a round roof made of bark : a post 
under each corner supported it so that the 
floor was three or four feet above the - 
ground. 

The doctor was a tall gray haired man. 
We inquired of him respecting his profes- 
sion. He said there was very little for him 
to do now a-days — very little call for his 
medicine ; but back in the old country, and 
in war time he had plenty to do. ^' Then 
you have been in the wars, have you ?" we 
asked. " Yes, much wars," he said. " How 
old are you ?" we inquired. " Can't tell 
that," said he, " only I know that I was in 
the Old Ked Stick War, and just then began 
to be old enough to carry a gun. 

The Old Red Stick War, as we understood 
it, was the war of 1812, in which a part of 
the Creeks fought against our country, and 
part of them for it, being led by Gen. Jack- 
son. That war is so designated because the 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 237 

warriors were assembled by means of the 
bundle of red sticks which the runners 
left in each house: one of those sticks was 
to be thrown away each day, and that day 
in which they had but one stick left, every 
man was to go to the appointed rendez- 
vous. 

Indians believe in Possessions, that people 
may be possessed with the devil. There is 
amongst them what they term the Spirit 
sickness ^Y(h.QXi a person is possessed with some 
spirit; and of course, incantation is needed 
to cast out the spirit ; and until that is done, 
they believe the person cannot be restored. 

They talk of the horse sickness, the cow sick- 
ness, (fee, in which the patient, as they suppose, 
is influenced in some way by these animals. 
The doctors are expected to tell them what 
the sickness is, and to prescribe the remedies. 
Sometimes certain portions of the animals 
may be eaten, or certain portions must be 
abstained from. For example, a person 
with the headache must not eat hog's 
head. 



238 SCENES IN THE 

They believe in witchcraft. One person 
may bewitch another: also animals may be- 
come bewitched, and then they will be 
troublesome to manage. There was much 
talk about a certain witch bear, against 
which heavy charges were brought. He 
was said to come amongst the cattle and 
swine at night, and those which he chose 
to bring under his influence would rave 
about at a furious rate, and might never be 
docile afterwards. 

Sometimes an application is made to one 
of the prophets in behalf of persons that 
are sick, to learn what doctor to employ, or 
what medicines to use. 

They never apply to their doctors or 
prophets without taking a present in their 
hands ; and those presents are liberal, and 
useful. 

PROPHETS. 

The Indians have their prophets, and 
schools of the prophets; for it is a profes- 
sion which has to be studied. The old 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 239 

prophets have young lads living with them 
as apprentices: these are generally their 
own nephews. These men have much in- 
fluence: they are applied to sometimes in 
cases of sickness : information in regard to 
lost or stolen property is sought from them; 
and they are consulted in relation to many 
matters, both secular and religious. They 
give out their responses with much assurance, 
as though there was not the least doubt in 
their own minds ; but they are not always 
right. 

One of these prophets, an old man, and 
very corpulent, came riding by one morn- 
ing : it was a dark morning with no clear 
sky. We had a short journey to perform, 
but it was not so urgent that we need expose 
ourselves to a wetting ; and we were out 
taking our observations of the weather as 
the prophet was passing. 

We saluted him with " Good morning," 
and asked, "AATill it rain to day?" He 
stopped ; looked very wise ; turned his eyes 
upwards, then downwards ; gazed away into 



240 SCENES IN THE 

the east, then into the west; then looked 
north and then south ; then with downcast 
eyes he sat a moment *' working up " his ob- 
servations, and then announced the result 
and thus it was, " Yes, it will rain to day." 
" Well, and just about what time will it 
begin to rain ?" we asked. This required 
further observation, and was in fact rather a 
hard question ; but he must answer in some 
way, and so he said, "Just about eleven 
o'clock it will begin." We didn't quite 
agree with the old man, however, and were 
going on to get the horse, when we met 
another Indian, a young man, and said to 
him, "And what do you think about the 
weather — will it rain to day, or not?" 

He too took a good look at the clouds, 
and noticed the wind, and said, " Well, I 
don't know much about it, but / guess it 
will clear up in about an hour or so." The 
young man's guess was nearer right than the 
prophet's decision. 

Prophets are the professional keepers of 
the traditions, and the teachers in respect 



INDIAN" COUNTRY. 241 

to the ancient customs. Persons desirous 
of becoming doctors, or sorcerers, as well as 
those expecting to be chiefs, gather up as 
much as possible of their traditional his- 
tory and unwritten tales and romances. The 
orators, we are told, weave into their speeches 
a great variety of traditional and legendary 
matter. 

THE BUSK. 

This is an annual feast, to which allusion 
has already been made. We do not claim to 
understandallaboutit, norif wedid would we 
have time to relate it, and you, we fear, might 
not have patience to hear it all. This yearly 
festival was observed by nearly all the clans 
at their respective "squares," or head quar- 
ters. Like as it was amongst the Jews, 
every person living in the Territory must 
have his name enrolled somewhere; and this 
register was according to the house and line- 
age to which they belonged ; and at certain 
seasons they went "every one into his own 
city." 

21 



245 SCENES IN THE 

We were told that anciently these, now 
small clans, were separate and powerful 
tribes ; but the various casualties of war, 
famine, disease, and frequent removals had 
wasted them, till at length they had become 
confederate under common chiefs, and form- 
ed but one nation ; though each clan had still 
its subordinate chief, and certain internal 
regulations peculiarly its own. 

The Busk has in it a variety of usages, in 
which those who are curious on this subject 
may find something that will correspond to 
what was found in one or the other of the 
Jewish feasts. In cutting down branches of 
trees, and making them into booths, and 
dwelling in them during the festival, it cor- 
responds to the feast of Tabernacles. In its 
being the occasion on which an offering of 
the ears of green corn is made to the Great 
Spirit, and this too before any of the people 
may eat of it at home, it may have something 
parallel to the Pentecost. It continued the 
same number of days as the Passover. They 
say it is kept in commemoration of the giv- 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 243 

ing of the law to them by the Great Spirit ; 
and Iq this also it reminds us of the Pente- 
cost. 

On this occasion they renew their fire by 
rubbing pieces of wood together, and from 
this they light all the fires used during the 
feast, and each family is expected to carry 
home some of it with which to begin another 
ecclesiastical year ; and this too is consider- 
ed necessary in order to keep disease and 
every bad influence from the house. Water 
is drawn from the spring into which the con- 
jurer blows a blessing through his reed, and 
the people all drink of it, supposing they 
are imbibing health-insuring draughts. The 
Jews, we are told, at their feast of Taberna- 
cles had a custom of drawing water from the 
fountain of Siloah, and pouring it with great 
pomp and hilarity upon the altar. 

The manner in which the people were as- 
sembled to this feast was by means of her- 
alds dispatched by the Mekko, each with 
many little bundles of sticks ; one of which 
is left in each house, with the direction to 



244 SCENES IN THE 

throw one stick away every morning, and 
that morning on which but one stick remains 
they are to repair to the Busk ground. 

The interval between giving the notice 
and the commencement of the feast, is termed 
The hroTcen days, from the circumstance of 
the broken sticks which register the time 
Certain of the men are detailed to make the 
public grounds all clean, and to repair the 
public booths. Each family was expected 
to go forth and fetch branches of thick trees 
and make booths for themselves. A number 
of the women were selected to do the cook- 
ing for the occasion, from the provisions 
which were contributed for that purpose, and 
which every man brought willingly, accord- 
ing to the number of their household. 

Not to attend this feast, and not to be pre- 
sent on all the days of it, was regarded as a 
misdemeanor, for which a fine was levied, 
and if not paid willingly, the Light Horse 
were dispatched to seize and sell property, 
whatever they might find. Christians, and 
enlightened Indians, whose consciences for- 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 245 

bade their attending these festivals because 
of the folly, lascivionsness, and wickedness 
which is mixed up in them, are therefore, 
you see, subjected to persecutions and losses 
for conscience sake. 

One of the days in which they are together 
is the season of a general fast. It is a day 
of mourning and of drinking bitter herbs. 
Sitting ou the ground, in a great melancholy 
circle, at a given hour of the day huge ves- 
sels of the " black drink" are passed around. 
It is made of roots and herbs boiled together, 
and designed to operate as an emetic. A 
large feather accompanies the vessel, which 
is used by those who prefer to have their 
sickness soon over. White men who have be- 
come citizens of the country cannot be ex- 
cused from this ordeal. Chiefs and people^ 
old and young, sit on the ground together ; 
and are all sick together ; and doubtless it 
is a sickening spectacle. The day of fasting 
prepares the way for the days of feasting 
which follow. 

The public booths are arranged around 

21* 



246 SCENES IN THE 

the sides of a square, and facing inwards. In 
the centre of the square a pole is erected ; 
around the foot of the pole a nnound of earth 
is thrown up ; and around this mound is the 
dancing ground. 

There are a great variety of dances, each 
having its peculiar step or " hop," and grim- 
ace, and its own music. The old Indians 
contend that the Great Spirit gave them all 
these ; and therefore they are bound with 
religious care to observe them, and to teach 
them to their children ; and these again to 
their children : and this, they say, is one of 
the reasons why it grieves them to see so 
many of their young people forsaking the 
customs of their fathers ; they fear lest the 
displeasure of the Great Spirit may be vis- 
ited on them on account of their irreligion. 

Some of the dan.ceS, they say, were learned 
from the bears ; others were communicated 
to them from heaven, for it would be impos- 
sible, they say, for man ever to invent any- 
thing so intricate and so ingenious, with the 
music and step agreeing so exactly. 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 247 

These scenes are schools of immorality. 
It is " promiscuous dancing," and in some of 
them the dancers are nearly nude ; the men 
rally the women in a coarse and vulgar 
manner, and the women retort in a similar 
style. 

At the Kowetah Busk house are a number 
of large sea shells which were brought on 
from Georgia in the exodus of the tribe, 
when they came to find a home in the West. 
They are used to divine by ; and in one of 
the dances they are placed on the ground, 
and the dancers move around them. They 
are considered sacred, and may not be 
touched by any but the appointed officers. 

All their amusements are kept up, day 
and night, and over a Sabbath day. The 
dances are mostly by night, and by the 
lurid light of torches and camp fires. The 
days are passed off in sleeping, and in tell- 
ing stories. 

It is a time for teaching the children, and 
for refreshing the minds of the older ones 
with all the facts and fancies touching them- 



248 SCENES TN THE 

selves and tlieir ancestors ; the marvellous 
deeds of their braves, and the sufferings and 
wrongs endured by themselves and by their 
fathers, with a special emphasis on the 
wrongs. They relate the things, some of 
which they saw, and a part of which they 
were. If they begin with 

TRADITIONS, 

They can commence as far back as when 
the first stock of their race emerged from a 
hole in the ground far away in the west : 
and that earth out of which they came was 
red ; consequently the people were red, and 
therefore their name Eed men. Here again 
the curious may discover a remnant of the 
true tradition ; that man was made of the 
dust of the earth, and called Adam ; which 
word is derived from a root meaning redeo.rth. 
Then comes the history of their countless 
removals eastward in which they were pretty 
constantly fighting ; dispossessing a tribe 
and appropriating their fields and dwellings, 
or in building forts where to make a stand 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 249 

for a while against a tribe or tribes more 
powerful than they. Thus for a long series 
of years they continued their migrations 
and freebootings, until they reached the 
hunting grounds where the early white 
settlers of our country found them. 

With this scrap of their own unwritten 
history their own mouths have sometimes 
been stopped when, as was their wont, they 
would begin to complain bitterly of their 
"forcible" removal to the west, " What!" 
we would exclaim, *' was that country yours? 
Haven't we heard you tell how your brave 
ancestors drove other tribes before them 
and seized their possessions ? and do you 
complain of being compelled to relinquish 
what was obtained in that way ?" 

At those public gatherings the old Indians 
endeavoured to impress the younger ones 
with the importance of preserving all their 
ancient practices: some of which would be 
rehearsed, such as the rules relating to un- 
clean things ; for they regard certain creatures 



250 SCENES IN THE 

as unclean, sucli as the horse, the crow, the 
buzzard ; these may not be eaten. 

But to give a more extended account of 
these matters might prove too tedious. 

As before intimated, these old customs 
and superstitions are becoming more un- 
popular, as the Christian party gradually 
grows stronger, and the heathen party weaker. 
So let the missionaries continue to labour, 
and to labour in hope ; and let the church 
continue to give, and to pray, and to pray in 
faith. 

MAKRIAGE AND COURTSHIP. 

Amongst the Indians that have not come 
under Christian influence, the customs in 
regard to the matter of taking a wife vary 
from the regulations in civilized countries, 
and from what the Bible requires. Some- 
times matches are made by the parents of 
the young people, and they are given to 
each other, with the desire and the charge to 
be faithful to one another. But in many 
cases the man chooses a woman, and if she 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 251 

is willing to be his wife, he takes her home 
and lives with her as long as he sees best ; 
and then if he becomes tired of her, or finds 
another that he prefers, he abandons her. 
The law, however, requires that he leave 
the homestead to the wife thus deserted. 
But to evade this, wicked men sometimes so 
torment and vex the woman, that she is 
forced to go out without property or pro- 
vision of anj kind. 

There are instances, in which men have 
more wives than one. When this is the 
case the different wives are put into separate 
houses, and those houses are sometimes 
several miles apart: the husband visits thera 
in rotation, spending a few days or weeks 
with one, then passing on to the other. 

We do not, however, assert that such a 
state of things as above described is the 
prevailing condition of society amongst that 
tribe of Indians of whom we are speaking; 
we would hope that faithfulness and con- 
stancy to one wife are the rule, and that 
bigamy and inconstancy are the exceptions ; 



252 SCENES IN THE 

and furthermore we hope that an enlightened 
and Christian sentiment on this subject will 
before long become so prevalent that the 
Council will be moved to enact laws in re- 
gard to this matter agreeable to the laws of 
God. ■ 

SOME INCIDENTS OF A DAY's KIDE. 

We take a south-west course ; the country 
is broken and well wooded, with many 
brooks for us to cross. The habitations are 
scattered, from half a mile to three miles 
apart. In a lonely place in the woods we 
come upon a burying ground. The graves 
are formed very much as we would make 
them. Few Indians pass this way by day, 
much less will they do so by night, because 
of their fear of ghosts. 

We travel on till we come to a large farm, 
to visit which, and the people upon it, was 
the principal object of this day's excursion. 
We find the owner at home, and more soci- 
able than we expected from what we had 
been told concerning him ; but he was not 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 253 

friendly to the Christian religion. He spoke 
English very well, and we conversed at con- 
siderable length. He had about fifty negroes, 
and we desired permission to preach to them ; 
either to have them assembled at noon, or to 
go from house to house on the plantation. 
But he seemed to think that their religious 
interests were abundantly provided for, since 
there was a preacher amongst them, who 
gave them a sermon every Sabbath day. 

We heard good accounts of this coloured 
preacher, as to his piety and good example, 
and that some of the negroes were hopefully 
pious. 

On our return we called at the cabins of 
two free coloured men, who had obtained 
citizenship in the nation. They were doing 
tolerably well as farmers. The heads of 
these families, together with some of their 
children, appeared to be devoted Christians, 
and to be hungering and thirsting after right- 
eousness. None of them were able to read, 
and when wereadandexplainedtheScriptures 
to them, they listened with ardent interest. 

22 



254 SCENES IN THE 

They were ready to overwhelm us with 
thanks, and begged us to visit them again ; 
for it was only once in a while that they 
could get even a fewcrumbs of the word of God. 
Oh, how they wished that some members of 
their families were able to read ! 

We have often wished that those people 
who have the Bible but neglect to read it, 
might have witnessed with what eagerness 
these poor people received the few para- 
graphs we were able to read to them. 

Riding homewards, we come unexpectedly 
upon a little cabin in the woods almost en- 
tirely covered with trees. A middle aged 
man was sitting on a log before the door, 
and with a knife was shaping a large wood- 
en spoon. This seemed to be his trade ; for 
a few wooden bowls, and spoons, and other 
articles of wooden ware were to be seen fin- 
ished, and ready for market. The picture 
was rather pleasing; the man seemed con- 
tented and happy; several children are sport- 
ing around him. 

The interpreter tells us this is a meeting- 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 255 

going man, and he thinks a Christian. We 
stop and have a few words of conversation 
with him. In answer to our salutation he 
raises his eyes from his work, with a fling 
of the head tosses back the long locks which 
were hanging about his face, and greets us 
with a smile. Without reserve, but with 
modesty, he engages in a conversation on the 
subject of religion. He tells us that he is 
happy ; that he loves to attend religious ser- 
vices, and to meet with people that love Je- 
sus, and when alone at his work he can think 
over some of the good things he has heard. 
He has no more any desire to engage in the 
sports and games which once were so pleas- 
ing to him. His knowledge is very limited, 
for all that he has learned of Scripture truth, 
he has picked up here and there, from the 
different preachers, and in conversation with 
Christian people ; but he appears to have 
well improved the little instruction he has 
received. He is faithful in his few things. 

We leave him to finish his spoon, and we 
proceed on our way with some very pleasant 



256 SCENES IN THE 

reflections. That then, we say, is a brother; 
one of the household of faith ; and glad are 
we to own him as such. His skin is not 
like ours, nor his dress, nor mode of living ; 
he has scarcely any cultivation when com- 
pared with the brethren and sisters with 
whom we have been accustomed to associate ; 
but when we come to speak of Christ, of the 
hopes of the righteous, of temptations, of this 
wicked heart, bad thoughts, and efforts to 
overcome every evil desire ; and when we 
speak of doubts and fears, then of encourag- 
ing hope, then of sorrows, and then of joys, 
we find we are just alike. He loves Jesus, 
and so do we, as we trust ; and Jesus loves 
him. He is a child of God, for he evidently 
has the Spirit of adoption, whereby he is 
taught to call God, Father. We shall by and 
by meet again, we hope. And this is some 
of the fruit of missionary labour, we say. 
Somebody cast bread upon the waters a long 
time ago ; and now, after many days, we 
have found it. 

Then, brethren, labour on. As far as pos- 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 257 

sible, preacTi the gospel to every creature ; 
for the word shall prosper in the thing where- 
to God sends it. Many may come from the 
cabins and wigwams of the forest, to sit down 
with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the 
kingdom of heaven, of whose salvation you 
may not learn till that great day, when He 
for whose sake you labour shall point to 
them and say, " Inasmuch as ye have done 
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, 
ye have done it unto rae." 

THE GLEANER. 

An incident with an oriental cast about 
it would sometimes occur, such as this. On 
a hot summer's day when all was still about 
the Mission, for the fowls were panting in 
the shade, and even the birds were seeking 
to keep themselves cool amongst the thick 
branches, there came an Indian woman soft- 
ly stepping along towards the house, coming 
by the back way. She was very shy, and 
stood by the fence outside the yard, watch- 
ing till some of her own people might ap- 



258 SCENES IN THE 

pear in sight; and when an Indian girl came 
to the door, she beckoned her to come to the 
place where she was standing. The girl 
went and returned with her message which 
was: This woman wishes to know if she 
would be perfectly welcome to go into the 
wheat field and gather what was left after 
the reapers. Full liberty was granted, and 
a rake was furnished her ; with which she 
laboured diligently a couple of hours. Then 
with a stick she thrashed what she had gath- 
ered, tied the grain in a cloth, and bore it home. 
While she was engaged in these operations, 
we occasionally looked that way and thought 
of Euth the Moabitess ; and wondered whe- 
ther or not this woman could be at all re- 
lated to that people to whom the Lord gave 
the charge, saying, " When thou cuttest down 
thy harvest in thy field, and hast forgot a 
sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to 
fetch it; it shall be for the stranger, for the 
fatherless, and for the widow ; that the Lord 
thy God may bless thee in all the work of 
thy hands." 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 259 

A FUNERAL. 

Soon after we arrived in the country of 
the Muskogees, the superintendent of one 
of the Missions invited us to take a horse 
and ride with him. He was going to visit 
a sick woman a few miles distant. We 
found her wasting with consumption. The 
cabin was small — one room; but it was clean. 
There were clean white curtains about the 
bed ; the furniture was scanty, but what 
there was, was tastefully arranged and free 
from dirt and dust. This recommended the 
inmates. Where Christianity goes, improve- 
ments in many respects are sure to follow^ 

Another Indian woman was attending 
upon the sick one ; but all was still. The 
missionary conversed with the sick woman; 
or we might say, he asked her some ques- 
tions, which she answered very briefly ; and 
then, he talked to her. By and by the hus- 
band came in. He was another silent per- 
son. He took a seat at a little distance, and 
listened attentively to what was said. What 



260 SCENES IN THE 

a silent race these Indians are ! we thought. 
A hymn was sung, and a pra3'er offered ; and 
we departed. 

A few days afterwards, and in a pouring 
rain, very early in the morning the husband 
came to request the missionary to attend the 
funeral of his wife. He then went to gather- 
ing up lumber, and himself helped in mak- 
ing the coffin. At the appointed time we 
were at the house of mourning, where we 
found quite a company of people. An ox 
wagon was waiting before the door, to serve 
as the hearse. The husband was busily, but 
silently, stirring about and making all the 
arrangements. When the coffin was brought 
out, he was one to help carry it. Then we 
moved towards the grave ; not in procession, 
but each one choosing his own road through 
the thicket till we came to a solitary place 
in the woods. The coffin was gently lower- 
ed into the grave, the husband still doing 
most of the work, and not a word had we 
yet heard spoken. "When the dirt was re- 
turned into the grave, the husband was the 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 261 

principal one in doing it ; and occasionally 
he would get in to tramp the earth down 
compactly. After it was finished, he made 
a roof over the grave to keep it dry. In all 
this the husband wished to testify his regard 
for the dead, and his solicitude to provide 
suitably for her last resting place on earth. 

When the coffin was lowered into the 
grave, the solemn stillness was broken by 
the words, " Earth to earth, and dust to dust ;" 
and then again, when the burial was com- 
pleted, by a short address from the minister 
and a funeral hymn. 

A fitting burial for this inhabitant of the 
forest ! The stillness of mourning friends, 
(for scarcely did we hear the crackling of a 
dry limb, so soft was their tread,) the sombre 
solemn woods, the majestic oaks spreading 
out their strong arms over the humble tomb: 
under such circumstances these sweet words, 
**I am the resurrection and the life" — "Those 
that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him," 
came upon our ears almost like a voice from 
the clouds. And as we were retiring from 



262 SCENES IN THE 

that spot, where the dust of a saint had been 
laid in its lowly bed, to rest in Jesus till the 
voice of the archangel sounds calling the 
dead to come forth, it needed but little fancy 
to enable us still to hear the echo of that 
Muskogee hymn still circling about the grave, 
and warbling amongst the tree-tops. 

ELOQUENCE OF SILENCE. 

" To everything there is a season, and a 
time to every purpose under the heaven ; 
and there is an unutterable beauty in such 
a fitness of things ; and so we find that there 
is " a time to keep silence, and a time to 
speak." There are times when stillness 
preaches more effectually than any audible 
sounds, and when even a sigh would seem to 
be out of place. 

The sun, one cold December evening, had 
just sunk below the horizon, amid such a 
blaze of angry red clouds as betoken a 
boisterous morrow, when we noticed one of 
the little boys becoming especially interested 
in something down the road. We also 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 263 

gazed in the same direction, and pretty soon 
an Indian appeared, with a blue shawl 
twisted like a turban about his head, a green 
blanket coat, and deer-skin leggins. With- 
out speaking or changing a muscle of his 
face, the boy moved with measured steps to- 
wards the stile; the Indian dismounted and 
met him there, and they stood, one on 
either side of the fence. 

The boy dropped his head on the topmost 
rail, and the man put one hand upon his 
shoulder, and the other around upon his 
back ; and thus they remained for some 
minutes, not a word passing between them, 
nor even a lisp. 

We inquired of the other boys what all 
that meant ; had the man brought the lad 
some bad news? " no," they said, *' that 
is his father, that has come to see him ; and 
the boy is so glad." " But," we said, " they 
have not spoken ; and doesn't the boy seem 
to be weeping?" "0 no," they answer, 
" they are just glad to see each other : Indians 
do that way." 



264 SCENES IN THE 

A VISIT TO THE CHEROKEES. 

All the missionaries labouring under tbe 
auspices of the American Board of Commis- 
sioners for Foreign Missions in the Cherokee 
Nation, were to meet at Park Hill at the 
same time that the Board was holding its 
annual meeting in an inland town of one of 
the eastern states ; and the members of our 
Missions were invited to be present with 
them. It being the season of vacation in 
our schools, some of us could be spared 
for a few days. The distance was a good 
day's ride ; but our saddles began to grow 
hard when the journey was but half per- 
formed ; and as the declining sun lengthened 
our shadows, the miles seemed to lengthen 
also. An hour's ride brought us to the 
ford on the "Verdigris, at a place where the 
river is wide, and the banks high and densely 
wooded. As we followed each other down 
the steep bank, we did not wonder at that 
sudden expression of terror from the lady in 
the company, who was unaccustomed to such 



INDIAN COUNTRT. 265 

modes of travelling; for as we looked over 
into the dark waters rushing over the rapids, 
thick clouds obscured the sun, and the roar 
of the fall a little below burst upon our 
ears. On the opposite bank were some 
wild animals that had come to drink at the 
river; whether deer or wolves we couldn't 
determine ; and they soon disappeared. 

The river forded, another ride of an hour 
or more brought us to the Neosho: this 
forded, we ride into Fort Gibson. This is a 
pretty place. There is the fort itself with 
its block houses ; the pallisades with their 
heavy wooden gates ; the stables on a hill 
near by, the quarters of the dragoons in a 
former day and their look out ; the campus 
outside the fort — a plot of ground elevated 
above the river, having on two sides the 
houses of the officers, the chapel and school 
house, the government store ; and all newly 
whitewashed. Within this enclosure was a 
little burying ground carefully protected, 
and tastefully adorned with trees and shrubs. 
We pass out into the Cherokee country by 

23 



266 SCENES IN THE 

a large gate ; near whicli is a store, having 
one entrance from the fort, and another from 
the Indian country. Around this door a 
great number of horses were tied, while their 
riders were within ; some with articles to 
barter for goods, others endeavouring to 
purchase by giving -a "lien" on the annuity 
which will come next year ; which annuity 
may be sold or gambled away to several 
other parties, all of whom will be at the 
council to claim it when at length it 
arrives. 

"VYe still have a very pleasant country to 
travel over as we journey eastward. We 
have no high hills, but a gently undulating 
surface, with many brooks, and some larger 
streams. "We pass but few houses, but 
those that we see seem to be one or two 
degrees in advance of those in the Creek 
country. 

At the house of the veteran missionary at 
Park Hill we receive an honest and hearty 
welcome. The evening passes pleasantly in 
company with the newly arrived and arriv- 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 267 

ing missionaries coming in from their sev- 
eral fields of labour, to enjoy a short season 
of social and religious intercourse; and thus 
to drink of the brook in the way, and then 
to lift up the head, and press on with renewed 
energies. 

Two days are spent in alternate business, 
and religious meetings ; and an additional 
interest is imparted to the occasion by the 
reflection that all the missionaries of the 
same Board are at the same time similarly 
employed, and that the officers of the Board, 
and many of the friends of Missions are also 
offering their prayers to the God of Missions 
for a blessing on the whole work, and on all 
the labourers. At one time we assemble in 
the meeting-house, made of hewn logs, to 
listen to a sermon. At another time to hear 
statements concerning the work at the 
different stations, in which the brethren 
speak of their difficulties, and their encour- 
agement; of whatever progress has been 
made during the past year, and the ground 
of hope for the future : and before we separate 



268 SCENES IN THE 

the efforts of the church for the conversion 
of the whole world are briefly brought to 
view ; also the lands where darkness yet 
broods are pointed to : and we bless the 
Lord for mercies past, and humbly hope for 
more. Again we assemble for the sacramen- 
tal service. The missionaries with members 
of their families, with Cherokees who have 
learned to love the Lord, and some who are 
of the race of Ham, all sit down together in 
remembrance of one common Lord, and as 
members of one family. 

At these seasons of refreshing we forget 
the trials of the way, and the days of sick- 
ness and peril. We forget the seasons of 
darkness and discouragement, and are oc- 
cupied with thoughts of our Father's house 
above, and are filled with joy in thinking 
of the trophies of grace ; some of whom are 
with us there, and others scattered over the 
Nation. The missionaries thank the Lord 
and take courage ; and when by and hj 
they separate, each to his allotted labour, it 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 269 

is with a more earnest purpose, a stronger 
faith, and more animating hope. 

A CHEROKEE PREACHER 

was there. He could not speak a word of 
our language. The few little works which 
had been translated into his own lanojuaore he 
carried with him; and was much occupied 
in studying them. His field of labour was 
far away in the north-west. He spake of 
the people there as "wild Indians," who very 
much needed the gospel ; and for himself he 
lamented his own small acquirements and 
feeble abilities, and expressed a wish that 
some person could be with him on whom he 
might lean, and to whom he could look for 
instruction. 

The chief and his family attended all the 
public services. It was something strange, 
that shining coach, that would do for Broad- 
way or Chestnut street, with driver and foot- 
man, glistening here and there as it passed 
the openings in the thicket, then rolling over 
the green sward up to the log meeting-house, 

23 * 



270 SCENES IN THE 

During our stay in the country we rode out 
to the residence of the chief — a neat cottage, 
like some snug farmer's house in one of the east- 
ern states. It was well furnished, and had 
pretty yards and flower gardens, which were 
indices of the refinement of those who pre- 
sided in the household. The wife of the 
chief, and her sister — white ladies — were 
pleasant and entertaining in conversation ; 
the chief was not so sociable, but none the 
less attentive to his guests. 

We visited the Female Academy — a large, 
handsome, well finished brick building. One 
almost wonders what such a noble edifice is 
doing away out there. From the top of it 
we saw the Seminary for young men, two 
miles distant. Each had a boarding depart- 
ment, with three or four teachers. The 
buildings were erected, and the schools sup- 
ported out of their school fund received from 
the United States government. In these 
were trained up teachers for their district 
schools ; and much other good they did, 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 271 

but respecting it all we cannot undertake to 
tell. 

Near the residence of the Missionary lives 
his Translator, who assists him in translat- 
ing into the Cherokee language, books and 
tracts. The "Cherokee Almanac," which 
they yearly issue, is a very useful publica- 
tion ; having alternate pages in English and 
Cherokee, with many Scripture lessons, and 
useful hints on Temperance, Agriculture, 
Political and Domestic Economy. The 
prairie flowers and the moon are the Al- 
manac of the Indian. When such a flower 
shows itself, they think it the time to plant 
this seed ; when such another flower is in 
bloom, some other seed must be sown, and 
so on ; but even then it may not be done 
unless the moon is in the right quarter also. 
But again it may occur that when the moon 
suits, the weather may not, for in some sea- 
sons the rains fall earlier than in others ; 
and sometimes when the dry weather com- 
mences, it continues through the summer ; 
and the farmer who, because the moon or 



272 SCENES IN THE 

other signs were not right, neglected to im- 
prove the early season which was favourable, 
may not have another opportunity to get 
his seed into the ground with a prospect of 
reaping a crop. 

The Translator of whom we spoke has a 
mixture of white blood. He was for two 
years in Princeton Theological Seminary 
and for some time has been a member of the 
Creek Presbytery. He employs his preach- 
ing talent for the benefit of his countrymen. 
His house resembled some parsonage in a 
quiet eastern village. The yard and flower 
beds, the orchard and garden, were refresh- 
ing to the eye; and you say to yourself, This 
man was not spoiled by education and a resi- 
dence among the whites. With other learn- 
ing a fine taste was cultivated. Nor was 
there in the house that painful contrast too 
often witnessed between the husband and wife, 
when the educated one returns and marries 
an ignorant, and it may be a heathen person. 
In this case the wife was a help-meet ; and 
while sitting with them in their parlour, or 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 273 

at their well arranged and comfortably pro- 
vided table, you would scarcely think you 
were partaking of the hospitalities of Che- 
rokees. 

Going to and from the church we pass 
over the spot which was once wet with the 
blood of the murdered Elias Boudinot. That 
occurred when their civil wars were raging; 
and perhaps they can hardly yet be said to 
have ceased. The Nation was divided on 
that question : Shall we remove, or shall we 
not remove west beyond the river? And the 
old hatred and hot blood of the opposition 
party is stirred up against the other, when- 
ever they think of that ancient feud ; espe- 
cially do they cherish enmity towards those 
who were the principal agents in selling 
their homes, their fields, and their hunting 
grounds to the pale faces. It still leads to pri- 
vate quarrels, and to the shedding of blood. 
Human life by many of the Indians is estim- 
ated too cheaply; and there are some so reck- 
less and who have so little dread of a future 
retribution, and withal seem to have acquired 



27*^ SCENES IN THE 

such a thirst for blood, that in some ap- 
palling instances a man is shot as ruthlessly 
as a wild beast would be. But as the influ- 
ence of the gospel extends, this condition of 
things will disappear. 

BLOOD REVENGE. 

As before stated, we hear too frequently 
of cases of murder and manslaughter ; and 
the number of these is larger because of 
the disposition of many to take the law into 
their own hands, and themselves avenge the 
death of a relative, rather than wait the law's 
delay. Indeed, blood revenge seems to be a 
part of their ancient code ; and the blood of a 
murdered person calls from the ground to 
those of nearest kin to avenge his death ; 
and those Indians who still hold to their an- 
cient customs and belief, feel themselves re- 
ligiously bound to pursue the murderer till 
they let the earth drink his blood also ; like 
as Joab smote Abner for the blood of Asahel 
his brother. 

We will speak of such a case. A man 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 275 

who had relatives not far from us had in a 
quarrel slain a man, and for many months 
he had been hunted from one hiding place to 
another. There were no cities of refuge to 
which he might flee and be safe, till a hear- 
ing of the case might be had before the 
judges ; therefore the avenger of blood was 
ever on his trail. Late one night he rushed 
into a house not far from the Mission, with 
blood streaming down his face, and craved 
a shelter and place of concealment. " Oh," 
says he, "this is too much to endure always; 
to be constantly hunted, and never able to 
feel secure. They are determined to have 
my blood, though they pursue me to the 
ends of the earth. I may as well face my 
enemy at once." 

TESTIMONY OF A DROVER. 

On the boat in which we were ascending 
the Arkansas river was a cattle buyer from 
Virginia. Having learned our profession 
and our destination, he told us his. For 
some years he had been employed in gather- 



276 SCENES IN THE 

ing up droves to take to the eastern states ; 
sometimes it was a drove of mules, with a few 
Indian ponies ; at others a drove of those 
fine cattle raised by these Indians, with a 
few of the buffalo, it may be, to sell to gen- 
tlemen at the east to ornament their parks. 
We sometimes saw small herds of these, 
which the hunters had taken on the plains 
when they were calves ; an ugly looking 
creature, and still more so when seen taking 
astampede, pitching along in a rolling, tumb- 
ling gait. The drover by years of experi- 
ence had learned much about these partly 
civilized tribes, for he had become familiar 
with all classes, and had seen them under all 
circumstances. Formerly, he said, he was 
like a great many others, and was accustomed 
to regard the accounts sent home by the 
missionaries, and published through the 
churches, with a good deal of suspicion; but 
now he had no more of that feeling. He had 
travelled in every direction over the coun- 
try, had visited many of the misssionary sta- 
tions under the care of different denomina- 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 277 

tions of Christians, had passed considerable 
time at some of them, and thus had an op- 
portunity of learning how they worked and 
how they lived ; often too he had to lodge 
in the houses of the Indians, and sometimes 
to encamp with them. He was always glad, 
he said, when he found himself amongst 
Christian Indians, or with those who had 
been educated at Mission-schools. 

It seemed to him that Christian character 
was more marked than it was in the states ; 
that when he found a genuine Christian 
Indian, he was more decidedly and actively 
so than was usual with professing Christians 
amongst the whites. He hoped in respect 
to himself that he was a follower of Christ, 
and he did certainly enjoy very much the 
pious conversation of Christian Indians, to 
whose houses a kind providence sometimes 
directed him. 

He told of a solitary ride that he once 
had in the Choctaw Nation. He had beea 
travelling all the day, and was weary and 
hungry; but the sun was rapidly declining 

24 



278 SCENES IN THE 

and no cabin was in sight, nor were there 
cattle paths which might lead him to human 
habitations. He was preparing his mind 
for a night on the plains by tethering his 
horse, and making his own bed in the grass 
rolled up in his blanket ; when as he began 
descending a slope he saw, amongst the tall 
grass near a stream, an encampment of 
perhaps fifty Indians. He was uncertain as 
to their character, or whether he might fare 
well or ill among them ; but he rode into 
the midst of them, and was received with 
kindness. It was not long till he ascer- 
tained that they were on their way to a 
sacramental meeting. There were men, 
women, and children in the company. 
Their riding animals were secured by long 
ropes, one end of the ropes being fastened to 
wooden pins driven into the ground. The 
stranger was invited to eat of their dried 
meat, and corn bread. They spake affec- 
tionately of their ministers, and seemed to 
be anticipating much enjoyment at the 
meeting. Before lying down to sleep they 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 279 

Lad religious worship, consisting of singing 
and prayers ; and the same in the morning; 
for they could no more do without their 
prayers than their provender. 

The drover thought them as happy a little 
company of people as ever he met on earth. 
The night in the Indian encampment where 
he was commended to the care of that God 
who hath made of one blood all nations of 
men — though most of the prayers were in a 
language which he did not understand — 
was, he said, a season that he loved to think 
of: and if he should be so happy as to arrive 
at heaven, after all bis journeyings were 
over, he should expect to meet most of that 
little party of Choctaws there. 

IS IT A PAYING BUSINESS ? 

Are the results of missionary operations 
such and sufficient to pay all the expense of 
money, labour, and sacrifice of health and 
life which they cost ? 

It was Saturday evening, of a sultry July 
day, just at the going down of the sun, when 



280 SCENES IN THE 

we reached the Mission burying ground 
situated ou a solitary knoll in the edge of 
the woods. We had followed the corpse, 
which was borne in a rough wagon, a mile 
or more through the forest, some of us on 
foot and some on horses. 

We lowered the coffin into the grave, the 
missionary addressed a few words to the 
people and offered prayer. The grave was 
filled up, a rough stone was placed at the 
head and another at the foot, and the com- 
pany dispersed. Then we said to the mis- 
sionary, " This grave shall open again." 
*' Yes," he answered, '^ and it shall open too 
I trust, before some of another class, for we 
trust that he will have part in the first re- 
surrection." 

I rode away from the burying-ground ; it 
was nearly dark. I mused as I went, and 
these were some of my thoughts : 

To-morrow is the Sabbath. Yonder is 
the house in which we worship. Our bro- 
ther, Thomas Jones, will not be there ; he 
was seldom absent when in health. He 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 281 

will not join with us again in this earthly 
sanctuary, nor in the weekly meeting shall 
we hear his earnest, fluent prayers, which 
were some evidence that he was not a 
stranger at the throne of grace. But we 
have hope that his spirit has already been 
received into that assembly which shall 
never break up. 

And who was this Thomas Jones ? An 
Indian. He had once been a wicked Indian, 
given up apparently to all the superstitions 
and vices of his people, and he had been a 
great favourite with the Indians of his town, 
because of his skill in the ball-play and other 
sports ; but for a few years past he had 
given evidence that he was washed, that he 
was sanctified, that he was justified in the 
name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit 
of our God. 

These things were alluded to in the funeral 
sermon, by the missionary, who knew him 
before conversion, and had witnessed his 
subsequent consistent walk as a professed 
follower of Christ. 

24* 



282 SCENES IN THE 

I mused on these things still. I ran over 
in my mind the providences by which at 
length this man was brought to a knowledge 
of the truth. I thought of the officers of the 
Board of Missions, in their plans and first 
efforts for establishing missions amongst this 
people — the selection of a man for the station 
— the discouragements attending his efforts 
— then the gradual increase of the missionary 
force, and the aggregate labours of all these. 
I thought of the money which is annually 
needed to support these Missions. I thought 
of the health of missionaries ruined here. 
I thought of them as sick and worn with 
care, and still labouring. I thought of the 
graves of those missionaries, and of mission- 
aries' children, in that burying-ground in 
which I had just seen another body deposited. 
On the one hand, I thought of all these 
things ; and on the other hand, I thought of 
Thomas Jones — -just buried in confident hope 
that he should rise in the resurrection of the 
just. One soul! And suppose this were 
the only fruit of the efforts of the Presby- 



INDIAN COUNTRY. 288 

terian Church for the Creek Indians ; is this 
enough to pay ivhat these Missions have cost? 
ONE SOUL! ONE SOUL! saved, as 
we trust, that but for the efforts of the 
Church at this place, would have died as 
heathen Indians die ! 

How did I wish that the whole Church 
could stand for a few moments by this gi-ave, 
and let it preach to them ! It would speak 
to them of the power of the gospel to con- 
vert the Indian. It would encourage them 
in the work of sending missionaries, and 
praying for them. It would also, I have 
little doubt, awaken a desire in many to 
offer themselves as missionaries, that, like 
the pioneer in this field who had just com- 
mitted to the dust, to await the resurrection, 
the first fruits of his labours, so they might 
go forth bearing precious seed, hoping also 
to gather sheaves. 



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